Japan's disaster had dealt another blow to New Zealand's economic recovery, BNZ senior economist Craig Ebert said yesterday.
New Zealand had understandably strong sympathies with Japan and the devastating natural disaster it was suffering.
Also strong were the economic ties between the two countries.
"While the total devastation to Japan is patently immense, it is worth noting that in proportion to its entire country and economy it is not that different to what New Zealand is already grappling with in its own disaster."
In respect to direct economic ties, although Japan had slipped down the leader board of New Zealand's largest trading partners, it was still at No 4, he said.
About 8% of New Zealand's exports by value go to Japan.
Of that, nearly 20% was unwrought aluminium, probably from the Tiwai Point smelter.
There was a smattering of other commodities such as fruit and vegetables, dairy products, meat and all sorts of forestry products - from logs through to particle board, Mr Ebert said.
Vehicles made up about half of New Zealand's imports from Japan, with mechanical and electrical machinery and equipment making up the bulk of the rest.
Japan was also a key source of tourists to New Zealand, about 4% by number and more like 6% by expenditure given they tended to be bigger spenders than average, he said.
Japanese students also featured prominently in education exports.
However, both the tourist and student markets were probably going to suffer anyway given the February earthquake in Christchurch.
The broader consequences of Japan's earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant problems would play out in the currency markets.
"Economic implications for the Chinese economy are worth thinking about given its increased integration with the Japanese economy over recent decades," Mr Ebert said.
The impact of Japan's already bad fiscal situation and outlook was worth gauging, as was the response from the Bank of Japan, he said.
With its policy rate already zero, it had so far just boosted inter-bank liquidity.
The Japanese central bank yesterday injected a record 7 trillion ($NZ115 billion) into money markets to try to keep financial markets stable.
By flooding the banking system with cash, it hopes banks will continue lending money and meet the likely surge in demand for post-earthquake funds.
