The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has made its 11th consecutive official cash rate (OCR) hike, up another 50 basis points to 5.25 percent.
This was above the market expectations of a 25 basis point hike and ease its pace of tightening.
The Monetary Policy Committee noted that the recent data, including a fall in GDP in the last quarter of 2022, suggested that the level of economic activity is lower than what was assumed in the previous monetary policy statement.
“Committee members observed that inflation is nevertheless still too high and persistent, and employment is beyond its maximum sustainable level,” they said. “The Committee agreed it must continue to increase the OCR to return inflation to the one to three percent target and to fulfil its remit.”…