Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Governor Adrian Orr is speaking at the February post-monetary policy decision press conference on Wednesday, noting the following.
Cannot rule out 50 bps hikes in future, rates do need to rise significantly.
Will take our time, step by step.
Capacity pressures in the economy are tightening still.
Forecast house price fall is small relative to past increases.
Amount of tightening through bond sales is very small, its all about the OCR.
Separately, the central bank’s Chief Economist Yuong Ha said that they are “seeing signs house prices are declining, moving back to more sustainable levels.”
NZD reaction
NZD/USD keeps pushing higher on the comments from Governor Orr, currently trading at the daily highs near 0.6775, up 0.62% on the day.
The pair tests five-week highs of on RBNZ’s hawkish rate hike decision.