New Zealand Finance Minister Bill English said on Saturday that increasing New Zealand’s benchmark interest rate risks pushing up the value of the NZ dollar
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has indicated it will raise interest rates soon to head off a rise in inflation and curb surging house prices
“That is a risk in itself, being at the front end of the tightening cycle … We don’t know how the foreign-exchange market is going to react to that”
“The RBNZ is clearly expecting a bit of inflationary pressure with our economy growing faster than its potential, so they will make the decisions they believe are appropriate”
The kiwi is pretty much unchanged from late Friday levels in the US.