RBNZ Leaves OCR Unchanged at 5.5%

By Sophia Rodrigues

At the July Monetary Policy Review, the RBNZ kept the Official Cash Rate unchanged at 5.5%, saying monetary policy will need to remain restrictive. It, however, opened the door for an earlier cut by stating that the extent of restraint will be tempered over time consistent with the expected decline in inflation pressures.

In the short statement, the RBNZ said restrictive monetary policy has significantly reduced inflation and the Committee expects headline inflation to return to within the 1-3% target range in the second half of the year.