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Analysis - The central bank will likely hold its official cash rate steady, and leave other key policies unchanged, Business Editor Gyles Beckford writes.

'Game-changer': Bank announces sub 2 percent mortgage rate for new-builds Newshub 2 hrs ago © Image - Getty Images; Video - Newshub Related video: It follows months of increasingly lower interest rates. Longer-term fixed interest rates are starting to move up, but for some borrowers the bar on floating interest rates has moved lower. To support building more homes to boost New Zealand's housing supply, ASB Bank has announced a floating (variable) mortgage interest rate of 1.79 percent for new-builds. It's available to owner-occupiers and investors who are either buying a finished new bui...

Unlike a fixed interest rate, the new build floating rate (currently 1.79 percent) changes according to market conditions. ASB said the rate is linked to the Reserve Bank Funding for Lending Programme, a pool of funds available at the Official Cash Rate for banks to lend.  The bank said there's confidence these funds will stay low for the foreseeable future. "If the Reserve Bank did change the discounted FLP rate then that would trigger us to look at the ASB Back My Build variable rate, but our intention is for our customers to enjoy the benefit of the FLP discounted rate," Sims added.   

Another major retail bank has seen its profits surge driven by the strong economic rebound from Covid-19 and lack of bad debts. BNZ chief executive Angie Mentis says the strength of the economic rebound was key to the profit improvement (File image). Photo: RNZ / DOM THOMAS The Bank of New Zealand's (BNZ) half-year cash profit rose to $660 million from $367m the year before. Leaving aside one-off items, the net profit was up by a more modest 13 percent to $563m. The bank, owned by Australia's NAB, had small increases in deposits and lending and managed a small increase in its margins.

5/4/2021 9:09:25 AM GMT The central banks are listed below with their current state of play. The link for each central bank is included in the title of the bank and the next scheduled meeting is in the title too. Reserve Bank of Australia, Governor Phillip Lowe, 0.10%, Meets 05 May Falling behind the curve? Once again, there were no surprises at the last RBA rate decision earlier this month. The Cash rate and the 3-year yield target were both kept at 0.10%. The level of bond purchases was unchanged too. The RBA was nearly through their first $100 billion AUD earlier this month and was startin...