Cost of sending money to Pacific to be cut

The Government is to add a regulation to reduce the cost of sending money to Pacific countries.

Prime Minister Helen Clark and Pacific Islands Affairs Minister Winnie Laban today said Cabinet had approved a new regulation under the Financial Transactions Reporting Act to reduce the high costs of sending money between New Zealand and the Pacific.

An estimated 75 per cent of Pacific people living in New Zealand sent money home and faced costs between 15 to 25 per cent of the amount they were sending.

The Pacific Island Affairs Ministry led work with the Reserve Bank and Justice Ministry to reduce that to between 5 and 7 per cent by next year.

- NZPA