Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Governor Adrian Orr is speaking at the May post-monetary policy meeting press conference on Wednesday, shedding more light on the central bank’s hawkish rate hike track.
Key quotes
Very focused on restraining aggregate demand.
Need to anchor inflation expectations.
Confident households can withstand higher rates.
This is our best foot forward to restrain inflation.
Range of estimates for neutral rate is around 2% to 3%, need rates above 3%.
Least regret is too do too much too soon on rates.
Funding for lending loans has increased to NZ$10.2bn.
A recession is not in our central forecasts, but is possible.
Without doubt we believe lot more rate work ahead of us.
Our projected fall in house prices is still very mild.
Will start public stage of our monetary policy remit next week.
Market reaction
NZD/USD is keeping its range near 0.6500 on these above comments, adding 0.53% on the day.