It was only in 2000 that our dollar was at 39 cents US and we
joked about it being the pacific peso. The New Zealand dollar
was initially pegged to the US dollar at US$1.62 = NZ$1. This
rate changed on 21 November of the same year to US$1.12 = NZ$1
after the devaluation of the British pound (see Bretton Woods
system), although New Zealand devalued more than the UK. In 1971
the US devalued its dollar relative to gold, leading New Zealand
on 23 December to peg its dollar at US$1.216 with a 4.5%
fluctuation range, keeping the same gold value. From 9 July 1973
to 4 March 1985 the dollar's value was determined from a trade-
weighted basket of currencies. The NZ$ was floated on 4 March
1985 at the initial rate of US$0.4444. Since then the dollar's
value has been determined by the financial markets, and has been
in the range of about US$0.39 to 0.88. The dollar's post-float
minimum average daily value was US$0.3922 on 22 November 2000,
and it set a post-float maximum on 22 July 2011 of US$0.8666.
Much of this medium-