Andrian Orr News Today

Despite a number of financial releases due out this week being quite interesting, on a monetary level, RBNZ’s interest rate decision caught our attention.

At its November gathering, the RBNZ held its official cash rate (OCR) steady at 5.5% and noted that inflation remains too high and that if price pressures were to become stronger than anticipated, interest rates would likely need to rise further. Officials also lifted their OCR projections to signal a decent chance for another 25bps hike before this tightening crusade ends.

Inflation’s hot potato has led to speculation that the major Central Banks and not solely Fed might consider tapering, which is the narrative that is