In good news for savers, Finance Minister Bill English has ruled out quantitative easing - colloquially known as printing money - as a cure for New Zealand's economic ills.

English addressed the topic at a Wellington Employers' Chamber of Commerce lunch last Thursday, in response to a question about Green Party leader Russel Norman's comment that the Reserve Bank needed to do more to lower the dollar.

"Again it's this view that there's a free lunch here somewhere: In this case, free money," English said.

"The countries who are printing money are setting off a whole train of future problems, which is why normally they don't do it. They only do it when they're in extreme circumstances," he said.

"It distorts the value of particular assets, it undermines the strength of the balance sheets of central banks, it creates a high possibility of future inflation which would be hard to deal with.

"And even the people who are doing it, are doing it with their fingers crossed behind their backs. It's not at all relevant to New Zealand, and it's got its own dangers," he said.

"We're not going to be printing money."

Allied makes mystery payment

Allied Farmers says an unnamed third-party purchaser of one of its long-overdue loans has received a "substantial" repayment.

"The loan has been outstanding for many years and has been the subject of complex litigation," the company says.

It has guaranteed the purchaser of the loan $7 million will be collected from the loan and Allied Farmers will pay any shortfall.

Although it isn't clear yet how much it will have to pay under the guarantee, it has provided a further $569,000 to reflect its maximum exposure, the company says.

Urwin to appeal sentence

Convicted former Bridgecorp director Gary Urwin will appeal against his two-year jail sentence, the New Zealand Herald has reported.

Urwin pleaded guilty to ten Securities Act charges in November last year, just before his trial was due to start.

Earlier this month Urwin was handed the jail sentence, with Justice Pamela Andrews saying home detention wasn't appropriate.

Urwin's lawyer David Reece, who had earlier indicated he was considering appealing the verdict because his client was within the home detention threshold, has told the Herald an appeal will be filed within days.

Former Bridgecorp managing director Rod Petricevic was last week sentenced to six and a half years in jail after being found guilty on charges under Crimes, Securities and Companies Acts.