OCR decision revealed
Wednesday 7 August 2019
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has cut the Official Cash Rate to a new record low of 1%. Here's why:
The Reserve Bank said:
The Official Cash Rate (OCR) is reduced to 1.0 percent. The Monetary Policy Committee agreed that a lower OCR is necessary to continue to meet its employment and inflation objectives.
Employment is around its maximum sustainable level, while inflation remains within our target range but below the 2 percent mid-point. Recent data recording improved employment and wage growth is welcome.
GDP growth has slowed over the past year and growth headwinds are rising. In the absence of additional monetary stimulus, employment and inflation would likely ease relative to our targets.
Global economic activity continues to weaken, easing demand for New Zealand’s goods and services. Heightened uncertainty and declining international trade have contributed to lower trading-partner growth. Central banks are easing monetary policy to support their economies. Global long-term interest rates have declined to historically low levels, consistent with low expected inflation and growth rates into the future.
In New Zealand, low interest rates and increased government spending will support a pick-up in demand over the coming year. Business investment is expected to rise given low interest rates and some ongoing capacity constraints. Increased construction activity also contributes to the pick-up in demand.
Our actions today demonstrate our ongoing commitment to ensure inflation increases to the mid-point of the target range, and employment remains around its maximum sustainable level.
Comments from our readers
No comments yet
Sign In / Register to add your comment
Property News
Key reform will only protect bad tenants
Getting rid of “no cause” termination notices only serves to protect bad tenants and will have a negative impact on the broader community, not just landlords, according to landlord advocates.
House Prices
No stopping Capital price rises
There’s no sign of a slow-down in Wellington’s property prices with Trade Me Property’s latest data showing that asking prices continue to rise solidly.
Commercial
Demand challenges for commercial sector
Vacancy rates in the commercial property sector are set to increase as changing economic conditions dampen demand.
Mortgages
LVR loosening likely - ANZ
LVR restrictions were never meant to be a permanent feature of New Zealand’s housing market and ANZ economists argue that some further relaxing of them could soon be on the cards.
