Reserve Bank of New Zealand lifts benchmark interest rate to 2 percent in fifth consecutive hike.
New Zealand’s central bank raised interest rates by 0.5 of a percentage point to 2 percent on Wednesday as it tries to get a handle on inflation while signalling the benchmark rate would peak at a higher level than previously forecast.
All but one of 21 economists in the Reuters news agency poll forecast the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) would hike the official cash rate (OCR) to 2 percent.
“A larger and earlier increase in the OCR reduces the risk of inflation becoming persistent, while also providing more policy flexibility ahead in light of the highly uncertain global economic environment”, the RBNZ said in a statement following its fifth rate hike in a row.
Following the statement’s release, the New Zealand dollar hit a three-week high of $0.65....
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