Stuttering economy likely to stay Bollard's hand
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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