(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand has no desire for a common currency with Australia even as the two nations seek to forge closer ties in the post-coronavirus world.That is the view of two senior New Zealand ministers, who were speaking on a webinar Wednesday about prospects for a travel corridor between the neighbors. Asked if the so-called “trans-Tasman bubble” could pave the way for a single currency, Trade Minister David Parker was unequivocal: “No, and I think that would be a terrible outcome for both countries.”

“I’ve always been an opponent of a single currency and I remain increasingly of the view that it is not justified and would be to the disadvantage of both countries,” he said. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters concurred, saying Parker’s view “parallels mine.”

Both cited Europe’s experience with a common currency, the euro, as an example of why New Zealand and Australia should not pursue one.

“I’ve watched over the years the single currency idea in Europe,” Peters said. “You know what’s happened now with Brexit, and there are rumblings in other parts of the European Union, such as Italy and elsewhere.”

Parker said the euro was “one of underlying weaknesses of the European Union,” as the economic cycle varied around the bloc “yet the currency cannot adjust to reflect the economic circumstance of an individual country.”

Both were upbeat on prospects of a safe travel corridor opening soon between New Zealand and Australia, both of which have been successful in suppressing the virus.

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