Just how bad is the NZ dollar drop?

The New Zealand dollar extended its decline overnight, falling to a five-month low and now off almost three US cents since the announcement of the new Government.

But while the fall is significant, how bad does it look in the context of the past few years?

The kiwi fell as low as 68.84 US cents from 69.44 cents yesterday. It has been trading at just above US69c this morning.

See live rates for the NZ-US $ below. Click for more information:

The local currency has dropped almost 3c against the greenback since its recent peak prior to the coalition announcement last week - US71.88c.

But to put in perspective it is still trading above six month lows - about US68.5c in May - when Bill English's National Government was considered to be well in control.

It has traded as low As US62.59c during National's last term (Sept 2015).

It is also worth noting that the US dollar has strengthened against most major currencies in the past few days as markets eye the US Federal Reserve in anticipation a December rate hike.