English 'not particularly concerned' about Greek crisis

Finance Minister Bill English says New Zealand is prepared for any shocks. Photo / File

New Zealand's Finance Minister is "not particularly concerned" about whether Greece's financial crisis will roll on to New Zealand.

Greeks will vote in a referendum tonight on whether to accept a new austerity plan and Bill English says from New Zealand's point of view, the economic risk would be "contagion where financial markets get really worried about a Greek exit".

That would affect the markets in which New Zealand was borrowing, Mr English told TVNZ current affairs show Q+A this morning.

The Finance Minister said the bigger implications were the political challenges for Europe, where they will be having "intensive discussions" about what it could mean for one set of fiscal policies right across Europe.

"I don't think anyone ever really imagined a country would actually exit Europe."

Mr English told Q+A the effects on financial markets could be potentially a bit disruptive, but "it's not like this is a shock".

Should "flow on effects" from Greece cause a credit crunch like the 2008 crisis, New Zealand would be prepared.

"This time round, if anything happened this time round, we're in pretty good shape," Mr English said.

"The last time round, we weren't. Like most developed countries, we weren't really ready, but we still got through it okay."