Manufacturers and exporters are calling for a cut in the official cash rate on Thursday to help take pressure off the currency.
New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association chief executive John Wally says it is naive to think New Zealand will be insulated from the problems in Europe.
"While only around 10% of our exports are sold there, the impact of debt problems there will make it more difficult for New Zealand to borrow offshore," Mr Wally said.
Central banks, including the United States Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, last week agreed to lower the interest rate on United States dollar liquidity swaps by 0.5%.
Clearly central banks, other than the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, were taking concerns in Europe seriously, Mr Wally said.
The terms of trade decline in September demonstrated the urgency of acting to help exporters.
"The more we earn offshore the better the position of NZ Inc if problems do strike. An OCR reduction would help this," Mr Walley said.
However, Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard is unlikely to reduce the OCR from 2.5%.
Westpac chief economist Dominick Stephens said overseas concerns would be at the fore of the monetary policy statement on Thursday, prompting the Reserve Bank to signal a significant change in stance.
"This time, the Reserve Bank is likely to push the mooted start date out to late 2012 and to signal a less aggressive programme of hikes. We don't expect the central bank to adopt the position taken by markets where OCR cuts are seen as more likely."
The longer-term plan would still be for higher interest rates as growth picked up and rebuilding in Christchurch put a squeeze on the nation's resources, he said.
The Reserve Bank was likely to emphasise that monetary policy would remain on hold while global uncertainties were running high.
Markets had a week ago fully priced in an OCR cut of 0.25% by March next year, although by Friday, that had pulled back to a one-in-four chance.
"Our take is that markets are not anticipating a single rate cut, but are factoring in the possibility of a catastrophic outcome in Europe which would require large cuts in the OCR."
Even at 2.5%, the central bank would have room to manoeuvre, Mr Stephens said.
The Reserve Bank was likely to point out that by keeping the cash rate at 2.5%, it was providing substantial support to the economy, he said.
