The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to keep its base interest rate unchanged—at 5.50%—during its August meeting. However, projections released alongside this decision, in the August Monetary Policy Statement (MPS), showed the likelihood of another 25 basis point lift was increasing. Stephen Toplis, head of research at BNZ, said this persistent inflationary pressure could be behind the increase in the OCR track. “Ten basis points is absolutely lost in the wash of the uncertainties you deal with in these monetary policy projections,” he said. However, ANZ’s Zollner said the Committee had signed off on a higher OCR track which suggests a bias towards lifting the rate.

Source: Stuff August 17, 2023 04:35 UTC