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The Australian and New Zealand dollars remained lower following yesterday’s slide after commodities declined on concern the global economy will suffer as Europe struggles to contain its debt crisis.

New Zealand’s currency, known as the kiwi, touched a five- week low after the country’s budget deficit widened more than the government estimated. Losses in the so-called Aussie dollar were limited before Reserve Bank of Australia policy makers meet today. They are expected to refrain from cutting interest rates.

“The commodities news does not help the Aussie or the kiwi,” said Hans Kunnen, chief economist at St. George Bank Ltd. in Sydney. “For the Aussie to slip further would require an even more significant slowdown in Europe. Should Europe go badly, that may well trigger the RBA down the track.”

Australia’s dollar was at $1.0655 as of 12:29 p.m. in Sydney from $1.0671 yesterday, after touching $1.0652, the lowest since Feb. 27. The Aussie dropped 0.3 percent to 86.80 yen from yesterday, when it fell 0.9 percent. New Zealand’s currency touched 81.89 U.S. cents, the lowest since Jan. 31, before trading at 81.90, 0.2 percent lower than yesterday. It declined 0.4 percent to 66.68 yen.

The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index (CRY) of raw materials slid 0.5 percent yesterday.

Agriculture export earnings by Australia, the largest wool and beef shipper, may decline next financial year on concern that global economic growth will slow, according to the government’s commodity forecaster. Earnings from farm, forestry and fisheries products may total A$38.9 billion ($41.5 billion) in the year from July 1, the Canberra-based Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences said today. That compares with A$39.2 billion a year earlier, it said.

Current Account Deficits
Australia’s current account deficit widened in the fourth quarter to A$8.37 billion from a revised $A5.82 billion the previous three-month period, the statistics bureau said in Sydney today.

Australia’s government bonds advanced, with yields on 10- year debt dropping two basis points to 4.02 percent.

Greece is aiming to complete a bond exchange with private investors in order to receive a 130 billion-euro ($172 billion) bailout that may turn the page on the country’s sovereign-debt saga and lessen concern that Europe’s crisis will further damage the global economy. Greece expects bondholders to accept the offer and is ready to force them to participate if necessary, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Athens.

New Zealand Deficit
New Zealand’s budget deficit was NZ$473 million ($388 million) wider than forecast in the seven months through January after higher-than-expected earthquake insurance liabilities, a report today showed. The government’s operating deficit before gains and losses on investments was NZ$4.314 billion in the period, compared with the NZ$3.841 billion gap forecast in the pre-election fiscal update published in October, the Treasury Department said in a report released in Wellington.

Prime Minister John Key is forecasting the government will eliminate the shortfall by 2015 as it cuts spending and reduces debt by selling as much as 49 percent of four state-owned energy companies. Last month, the government said the 2015 surplus may be a third the size it predicted in October as weaker world growth curbs revenue.

China, Australia’s biggest trading partner and New Zealand’s second-largest export destination, yesterday pared its economic growth target to 7.5 percent from an 8 percent goal in place since 2005, a signal that leaders are determined to cut reliance on exports and capital spending in favor of consumption.

The RBA will probably keep its overnight cash rate target at 4.25 percent today, according to all 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The central bank unexpectedly refrained from cutting its benchmark last month after implementing two quarter percentage-point reductions in the final months of 2011.

Traders expect the RBA to reduce borrowing costs by 40 basis points within a year, according a Credit Suisse AG index based on swaps. That compares with 104 basis points in cuts predicted on Feb. 1.