"Who knows where the markets and the currency will be at that stage. We just have to accept it, roll with it, watch it closely but there's not a lot we can do."
BNZ economist Doug Steel said there was a lot of fear in the markets.
"It could just be a shake-out, a reality check to where world growth outlook is a little bit softer, or something a little bit more nasty and we won't know that until the dust settles a little," Steel said.
The dollar was not low but was at least taking the edge off the decline in world product prices.
"It is the exporter's friend in times like these that when the world does get a bit scary and commodity prices come off the New Zealand dollar does tend to fall and it's certainly been doing that over the last few days," he said.
Goldman Sachs economist Philip Borkin said a weakening global economy and a stronger kiwi dollar was a bad combination. "That makes an export environment much more challenging." But "structurally and longer term we're still very optimistic".