RBNZ Hawkish Rate Hold Spells Higher Rates Ahead… But…

The New Zealand Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee voted to hold the OCR at 2.25 percent. Interestingly the decision was a split vote between holding and hiking. Governor Breman who is Chair of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on-hold vote was the tiebreaker, separating the views of external members and banks staff. The three external members are voted to hike whereas the three internal members voted to hold. This is the first time the specific votes were reported in the notes from the meeting. The Statement highlighted the dilemma facing many central banks at the moment as to how to respond […]