Good availability of bank credit and informal capital can partially but not fully substitute for underdeveloped equity markets. New Zealand’s banking sector has been growing since 1990 in line with growth in Australia and Denmark. Informal capital markets are also larger than in most OECD countries relative to GDP. International Linkages While New Zealand’s economy has low formal barriers to trade, its share of external trade (relative to GDP) is well below that of similar-sized, high-performing OECD countries. Its share of world exports has declined somewhat over the past 15 years, as has the OECD’s share of world exports. In.
