The amount represents two to three times the $5b estimated cost of September 2010’s quake and 7 to 8 per cent of the GDP, compared to Hurricane Katrina’s one per cent impact on the US economy, reported the New Zealand Herald. Out of the estimated $20 billion cost, the government will foot around $5 billion, minus the other costs yet to be assessed as revenue falls while Christchurch recovers.

According to the Herald, Key reiterated that a vibrant city provides jobs for its people and Christchurch is a broken city, one that needs to be repaired. According to Key, there’s no getting away from the fact that this has had an enormous impact, beyond the government’s control or expectations. Mr. Key had just announced emergency assistance for businesses and workers hardest hit by the earthquake which will cost between $100 million and $120 million.

The emergency assistance is to last for six weeks as the government works on its next steps, with a modified assistance scheme likely to follow. The first payments will be made by Wednesday, with eligible employers receiving $500 gross a week for each full-time employee so they can continue to pay wages. According to Mr. Key, the scheme’s objective is to ensure businesses are linked with their staff, while at the same offering support to workers who had lost their jobs due to the quake.

Full time workers will receive $400 net a week to tide them over while they look for other jobs. Mr. Key said the Government’s commitment was going to have an impact on its budgets, and was likely to mean it wouldn’t return to surplus as soon as it had expected. Finance Minister Bill English said the economic effects would be felt for years to come.

Mr. English said loss of output from Canterbury and a delay in reconstruction from the previous earthquake would have an economic impact. At a national level, economic growth in the first half of this year would be lower than expected. Mr. English said the Government had the resources and the commitment “to do what is needed”.

Queenstown Lakes District Council Mayor Clive Geddes said that this host status was a significant move and an incredible opportunity that showed a real sign of confidence in the region. It is expected that this Queenstown based TRENZ will generate enormous spin-offs for the local Queenstown communities and economy in the form of increased investment opportunities.

‘Destination Queenstown’ Chief Executive, Tony Everitt added that this business meeting would mark a great achievement for the Southern Lakes region by getting the opportunity to hold an event of this magnitude. The Southern Lakes alliance is made of Destination Queenstown, Lake Wanaka Tourism and Destination Fiordland. The tourism business showcasing offers the city an opportunity to showcase itself to more than 200 international travel and tourism buyers, investors and the media in one hit.

The sum total of visitors to the resort during the event is expected to peg at about 600 just before the beginning of the New Zealand winter. As such, Destination Queenstown will work with the Tourism Industry Association (TIA) closely and the New Zealand tourism sector investors and operators for the event. Local Queenstown operators stand to benefit from the business meeting through being able to sell their products at home.

TRENZ has been vital in the country’s tourism sector as it enables New Zealand’s leading tourism investors and operators reach a huge market of potential international buyers with a face-to-face business meeting in one place, Queenstown for 2011. TRENZ is managed by TIA in association with a number of partners that include Tourism New Zealand, Air New Zealand, Qantas, Destination Queenstown and other industry supporters.

Investors in the tourism sector, Queenstown, stand to benefit from the expected increase in business in the already robust and thriving segment of the region’s economy. Queenstown, a spectacular city, is considered the most popular holiday destination in New Zealand for international visitors and offers and incredible range of investment opportunities in the tourism industry. It’s New Zealand’s adventure capital and ‘Destination Queenstown’ hopes this announcement of its host status for TRENZ will attract more investments into the city.

In essence, the announcement potentially means that an extra $50,000 could be available in profits for dairy farmers in New Plymouth and the Taranaki region; that gives a total sum of about $93 million to the region. However, Fonterra cautioned that the $8 payout would only become possible if international dairy prices and foreign exchange rates maintain their current low levels.

If that should happen, it would portend an additional $2 billion to the country’s economy. The announcement allows dairy farmers in the region to spend money on fertilizer, farm development and debt settlements. Estimates place borrowing by dairy farmers in the country at about $240 million a week with most farmers preferring that the payout stays at $7 for longer time than fluctuate between $6 and $8 for two years.

It is easier to run a farm and budget for operations if the payout maintains consistency and the forecast in a way would allow farmers who paid high prices for their property to rest easy as signs of good times ahead begin to appear over the expected lull. Additionally, the high payout is expected to lead to greater conversions in the south Island and higher prices for stock in the region with the Taranaki Federation of Farmers’ president reiterating the fact that the payout should maintain a cool figure as the expected and $8 may put inflationary pressure on farm costs.

Rather, the president would have Fonterra hide its good returns or use it to cut down debts and provide stability as opposed to ups and downs. Drought and flooding affected most farmers in the region and this increased payout would help them get their stocks in order before the start of the new season. The high pay out is expected to flow into all sectors of the region and the city’s economy, enhancing it. However, the real benefits of the pay out will only be felt in New Plymouth if the rate is consistent given the fact that high fuel costs and the rise in GST in the new season will affect all farmers.

Hamilton is New Zealand’s highest export region accounting for about 19% of the country’s total exports with key business clusters such as Agricultural Biotechnology, Light innovation, transport logistics, science research and education. It is regarded by exporters as NZ’s inland port and a major storage and distribution center. Under its Enterprise Training Program, coaching and business training workshops have been held for potential investors and entrepreneurs. Even though the funding for that project has been halted by the government’s Trade and Enterprise agency, it is developing a new scheme that will offer partial business training subsidies.

The city’s favorable investment policies as laid out by the city council have been crucial in attracting investments. For instance, it offers advance funding of new infrastructure in city growth areas with fair agreements between the council and private investment developers depending on the projects. Manufacturing and the retail industry have recently witnessed marked investments in recent years with the city’s Pacific Aerospace being the largest and the Max Clear Aviation that manufactures high quality micro light Aircraft. The British Flight training organization, CTC Aviation established their base in the region and trains over 100 pilots per annum.

Education and Research remain important to the city through the University of Waikato and the Wintec. The Ruakara research center accounts for most of New Zealand’s Agricultural innovations given Hamilton’s status as the largest dairy industry (Waikato) and its main source of revenue. However, with dairy prices surging and the restructuring of Fonterra, the largest dairy firm in the country, and the current drought facing New Zealand, farmers held a forum in Hamilton to discuss the next decade of dairying with Dairy NZ reporting that the industry is at crossroads and farmers should look beyond the next season.

The Dunedin ICT cluster includes businesses in niche areas such as offshore business solutions for a range of industries such as health, sports and performance, physiology, finance, agritech, film, gaming, 3D, education, GPS, software development, database management, e-learning and e-commerce.   The national broadband speeds were generally lower when compared to the improving web browsing speeds since the start of 2009 according to a recently released report. The city’s council supports technology companies through its EDU plan, the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and the UPSTART Business Incubator.  However, the principal industry in the city over the last few years has been the property and business services that accounted for 28.6% of all business within the city and its retail trade industry comes a close second.

Other crucial sectors to the Dunedin economy include Tourism with places such as the Octagon, Lamach castle, Otago Museum, Dunedin Public art gallery, Speight’s brewery etc that have been a source of revenue for the Dunedin tourist businesses. The city encourages local business and employment growth, and attracts increasing numbers of new business and tourists each year. A ten year economic development strategy began in 2000 and updated in 2006, focuses on making the city a prosperous economy. As it is, the city has a well developed Research and Development mechanism through its institutes that aims at a knowledge base economy. At present however, three of the main industries in the Dunedin harbor area fear they could be put out of business by the City Council’s proposal to rezone harbor side industrial land for its usage as a residential and commercial area. The industries launched an appeal in the environment court and it’s yet to be determined. The companies employ about 200 staff.

Over 170 exporters are based in Tauranga, mainly attracted by the Tauranga Port Services that is efficient enough to move products fast round the globe. As a result, the region’s port is by far the largest in New Zealand making it the best choice for both foreign and local exports. About seven million tones of exports and about 5 million tones of imports are conducted via this port annually. The port serves the golden triangle made up of Waikato, Bay of Plenty and the Auckland region. New Zealand’s largest exporters, ZESPRI International, Balance Agri-Nutrients, and TrustPower are based in this region. Kiwi fruit and avocado, boat building and marine services, software development, transport and logistics, design, manufacturing and engineering, aqua culture and food processing are robust industries in this region’s economy.

Smart Economy, the economic development strategy for Tauranga, in partnership with the government and other business support organizations in the region has identified key industry areas crucial for the continued growth of the region.  Key sectors for investments in the Tauranga economy include:

• Horticulture & Agriculture
• Food manufacturing
• Information & communications Technology
• Transportation, distribution & logistics
• Design manufacturing & engineering
• Marine services
• Business services
• Construction
• Tourism

The implementation of the Smart Economy strategy began in 2004 and is administered and monitored by Priority One, the economic development agency for the region. Studies have shown that life is better in Tauranga and 11 other New Zealand cities with about 93% of the regions residents admitting to a positive overall quality of life, rating it as “extremely good” or “good”. It is expected to be the third largest city outside Auckland by 2016.

A report on the Westpac stadium in Wellington showed that the stadium contributed about $500,000 billion into the city’s economy ever since it was opened ten years ago.  As a result, the Regional Stadium Trust chief, David Gray, announced that it had added about $484 million Wellington’s economy.  That represented more than double the expectation that was forecast at the building of the stadium. Then, it had been predicted that the stadium would host about 14 major events yearly, however, the figure now stands at almost 50. The stadium creates about 670 fulltime jobs.

Wellington underwent a real estate boom in the early 2000s and the effects of the international property boom in the beginning of 2007. In 2003, its market was robust but by 2008, property values had declined significantly by about 9.3% in just twelve months. However, the trend reversed and there was a marked improvement in May 2009. In June and late 2009, house prices dropped, interest rates were low, and buy to let property investment became attractive again especially in the Lambton zone.  Being at the center of NZ economy, this region is an integral part of NZ.

While the region covers most industries, it also has the highest number of people that work in the telecommunications services, finance, and property and business services in the Country.  Even with the challenges of the global recession now easing, the wellington IT sector bucks the wider economic trend and thrives in most areas.  A majority of IT has continued to experience increased revenues in the coming years with a significant number of them already planning expansion.

The wellington economy thrives on a robust manufacturing or Industrial and a service sector industry.  Leading research facilities have enabled the region advance in technological know how with the production of knowledge based goods and services. The region has as well been New Zealand’s center for the creative industry with great films production.  Major Hollywood productions have been done in Wellington.

For investment advice in New Zealand, there are support lines opened by the government and other advisors that help investors. Investment can be made in the vast sectors of the economy such as the tourism industry that is emerging, light industrial engineering, manufacturing, electronics and education. The Christchurch economy benefits from the associated infrastructure and the value added processing operations that supply a considerable amount to its economy. Like other knowledge based economies, the city has two universities and sixteen research facilities that are pivotal in developmental research. Technological advancements and a highly skilled labor force are typical features of its economy. For efficient transport, an international Airport, an efficient harbor, well built roads and rail links have rendered it as a major distribution hub for South Island. That has also been helped by its centrality in New Zealand.

Christchurch has a booming and robust economy that has witnessed commercial success of the local businesses. In turn, the living standard of the local population is quality. However, the city’s success has been attained thanks to the local government’s practical approach. Investments in Christchurch enjoy a safe and secure investments environment. The economic stability of the region coupled with the active government support for investments make it an ideal location for investing. Christchurch may have an emerging tourism sector and even be called “Garden City” but it has great investment potential as well too.

To encourage investment, the local council offers service officers and small industrial units, advice on the availability of commercial property, investments enquiry handling service, partnership programs for business mentoring, tourism promotion and managing a range of markets. Therefore, advice on investments will be readily availed to any potential investor at no cost at all.

Ranked third world wide in economic freedom, and the second in ease of doing business; the New Zealand economy continues to perform impressively. With no capital tax gains on investment, privatized public utilities and state services, and an efficient economy, NZ investments environment is the most competitive. Employment levels are high from the city’s skilled labor force. An investor that wants to invest in New Zealand meets a friendly and easy investment environment to do business. More over, investments in NZ have a wider market from free trade agreements that give them access to the Australian, Chinese and Singaporean markets.

Auckland has competitive business costs that ensure fairness and efficient competition. Investment opportunities abound in biotechnology, food and beverage, Tourism, information and communication, the creative industry, infrastructure, the real estate, shipping and other small areas of investment. Even though relatively out of the recession, all economic indices point to a stable economy with positive growth. For investors in the Agricultural sector, an extensive biological research makes NZ one of the leading nations in Agricultural technology and innovation. This production of innovative services has been done cost effectively.

IT companies and investors that want to invest in New Zealand have a diverse and robust ICT industry. With wireless infrastructure in place, the ICT sector has witnessed a boom in Auckland. The emergence of the Creative industry such as Film has been a direct result of the improvement of this sector. The shipping and cargo services sector has continued to perform well in Auckland. Hosting one of NZ’s most important ports, the ports of Auckland, the sustained growth of this venture is vital for business in this city. The supply chain of both big and small business is handled through this port.