Bagrie: Volatility ahead but ‘bring it on’
Leading questions Kiwi business people discuss the year just gone and what will affect them in 2020. Cameron Bagrie, formerly chief economist at the ANZ, now runs his own business — Bagrie Economics.
How would you describe 2019 for your business?
Enjoyable. Best part of running my own shop is the ability to get more balance into my life.
What will 2020 bring? Volatility. Lots of it. That will bring challenge and opportunity. Bring it on I say.
Going into an election year, what are the three biggest issues the Government needs to solve? Making concrete inroads into housing affordability, showing the ability to execute, and making sure the billions they are spending (borrowing) is going to deliver results. If I was the PM I’d be removing / replacing a couple of Cabinet ministers in the new year to send a stern message; deliver or you get demoted. It’s society that loses if ministers aren’t up to the task.
What was your favourite corporate stoush of the year? Banks versus the RBNZ. Points decision to the RBNZ.
What should be uninvented in 2020?
KiwiBuild. It’s a dog with fleas.
What do you want to fix in 2020? I have a bee in my bonnet about improving financial literacy among kids, which starts with getting rid of the term financial literacy (or financial capability) and replacing it with something kids will connect with. Financial literacy is not something you can “fix” easily, but I’m excited about some stuff I’m involved in and we’re going to try and start turning the dial. Watch this space.
What was your first job? Fruit-picker in central Otago. Corona tasted soooooooo good at the end of a hot day.
What was your worst job? Never really had a bad job. You exit them quickly.
If you could change one thing about the workplace what would it be?
Ideally more money in people’s pockets but we just can’t seem to crack the nut on improving productivity, which is needed to match. More broadly, I don’t have a lot of time for office politics or people who play those games. It would be nice if we could get rid of such behaviour but that’s never going to happen.
How do you stop yourself from working during the holiday period?
I don’t. I will probably have a paint brush in my hand. Technically it’s work, but it’s doing different things and it’s needed to reset for the new year.