KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar, known by traders as the kiwi, today hit a post-float high of US81.17c. Below is a chronology of its journey to that level:
* July 1967 - New Zealand dollar replaces pound at rate of two dollars to the pound and one NZ dollar to US$1.39.
* 1971 - US devalued its dollar relative to gold, leading New Zealand to peg its currency at a value of US$1.216 with a 4.5 per cent fluctuation range.
* July 1973 to March 4, 1985 - NZ dollar's value was determined from a trade-weighted basket of currencies.
* 1973 - Kiwi hits an all-time high of just under US$1.50 as New Zealand commodity prices soar and New Zealand experiences record balance of payments surpluses.
* 1974 - Kiwi is devalued to around US$1.35 in the wake of slump in wool, meat and butter prices after Britain enters the European Common Market and the first oil shock sends price of petrol soaring.
* July, 1984 - A run on the NZ dollar following the election of Labour government which indicated it would devalue by 20 per cent. Currency trading is suspended when outgoing prime minister Sir Robert Muldoon initially refused to devalue. After provoking a constitutional crisis he finally agreed to devalue 20 per cent on July 20.
* March 4, 1985 - The kiwi is floated at US44.44c, 83 per cent below today's level. Against the Australian dollar it has gained 40 per cent from A62.4c, while against the Swiss franc it has fallen 30 per cent and against the yen it has fallen 22 per cent.
* 1985-1988 - Against expectations the kiwi rises strongly post float as Reserve Bank restricts supply of money and interest rates are ramped up over 25 per cent. The kiwi continues to rise despite the 1987 sharemarket crash and hits US72c as the Reserve Bank is given operational independence with a mandate to squeeze inflation out of economy.
* 1993 - The kiwi falls to US51c as recession hits in wake of Finance Minister Ruth Richardson's "mother of all budgets".
* November 1996 - The economy rebounds, peaking at 6.5 per cent economic growth in mid-1994. The kiwi rises to US72c as investors pour money into New Zealand to capture high interest rates used to try and dampen demand.
* December 1996 to November 2000 - Kiwi falls 45 per cent in a move precipitated by appointment of NZ First leader Winston Peters to the position of treasurer and a loosening of the inflation target. The Asian financial crisis in July 1997 and the disintegration of National-NZ First government followed by election of Labour in 1999 saw the kiwi drop to a nadir of US39.24c in October 2000.
* 2002-2008 - New Zealand dollar rises 107 per cent as New Zealand experiences one of its longest periods of uninterrupted economic growth in living memory. The Reserve Bank is forced to hike interest rates 13 times in under four years to try and quell inflation pressures.
* April 2007 - Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard says NZ dollar level was "exceptional and unjustified, taken as a broad hint the central bank would use new powers to intervene in the currency market.
* June 11, 2007 - New Zealand dollar tumbles after rumours, then confirmation, that the Reserve Bank intervened in the currency for the first time since it was floated in 1985. Bank governor Alan Bollard said the kiwi's level was "exceptional and unjustified". It fell 1.8 per cent from its peak to a low of US74.98c as dealers dumped the currency.
* July 24, 2007 - NZ dollar breaks US80c for first time since March 1985 float. It climbs to a 25 year high of US81c in hectic trading. Finance Minister Michael Cullen said the kiwi's climb was very much a story of the US dollar's decline.
* June-July- Aug, 2007 - Reserve bank spend $2.3 billion selling NZ dollars for mainly US dollars over from June to August. It sold $1.5 billion in July and $701 million in June trying to stem the kiwi's rise.
* Feb 26, 2008 - The New Zealand dollar, riding on the back of the highest interest rates in the developed world, hits new post float high of US81.17c and its highest level in 26 years.
- NZPA
