Official cash rate (OCR) from 0.5% to 0.75% now.

  • The Committee agreed it remains appropriate to continue reducing monetary stimulus so as to maintain price stability and support maximum sustainable employment

RBNZ projections for the path ahead:

  • sees official cash rate at 0.94% in March 2022 (previously 0.86%)
  • at 2.14% in December 2022 (pvs 1.62%)
  • at 2.3% in March 2023 (pvs 1.77%)
  • at 2.61% in December 2024

Sees annual CPI 3.3% by December 2022 (pvs 2.2%)

More from the Bank's communications:

  • says headline CPI inflation is expected to measure above 5 percent in the near term before returning towards the 2 percent midpoint over the next two years.
  • says immediate relative price shocks risk generating more generalised price rises
  • capacity pressures have continued to tighten
  • broad range of economic indicators highlight that the New Zealand economy continues to perform above its current potential.
  • household spending and business investment will be dampened in the near-term by ongoing covid-19 health uncertainties
  • says recent nationwide health-related lockdown and restrictions in Auckland resulted in a sharp contraction in economic activity
  • says capacity pressures have continued to tighten

Governor Orr's news conference is coming up at 0200 GMT.

After the knee-jerk dip in the kiwi$ on the widely-expected announcement of a 25bp hike NZD/USD is down a few points

---

For background to today, the previews:

Official cash rate (OCR) from 0.5% to 0.75% now.