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Old Mortgage News

Stuttering economy likely to stay Bollard's hand

Monday 25th of October 2010

All 11 economists surveyed by www.goodreturns.co.nz expect Bollard to leave his official cash rate (OCR) unchanged at 3%. Bollard raised the OCR twice in June and July, the first upwards movements since mid-2007, but then held it steady at the last review in mid-September.

"We've got it from the horse's mouth. The Reserve Bank has made it clear they agree with current market pricing and there own outlook suggests several pauses," says Chris Tennent-Brown, Commonwealth Bank of Australia's New Zealand economist.

A clincher for keeping rates unchanged was the exceptionally weak 0.2% growth in the June quarter, well below market expectations and the central bank's own 0.9% forecast.

Darren Gibbs at Deutsche Bank says more recent data suggests September quarter growth will also fall well short of the Reserve Bank's most recent forecast of 0.8% "with consumer spending looking flat, at best, and construction likely to have weakened."

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