WELLINGTON: Reserve Bank of New Zealand Monetary Policy Committee member Carl Hansen said on Friday the central bank's interest rate hike on Wednesday was a clear consensus decision.
Policymakers agreed monetary conditions had been stimulative and action was needed to reinforce the central bank's commitment to returning inflation to target, he told Reuters in an interview.
* New Zealand's central bank lifted the cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.75% on Wednesday and signalled more tightening ahead, but it stressed any further moves would be measured as it warned of mounting risks to the economic outlook.
* Hansen said the committee would closely monitor whether higher energy costs from Middle East-related supply shocks were feeding into more persistent domestic inflation through wages, business pricing plans and inflation expectations.
* He said the bank would also watch household consumption, housing activity, precautionary saving and migration, adding policymakers would focus on meaningful trends across a broad range of indicators rather than react to any single data release.
* Hansen said he viewed monetary policy settings in May as "really quite stimulatory," but said the Reserve Bank's subsequent two rate increases had moved policy into a "much more balanced position."
* Hansen said he did not regret the committee's decision not to raise rates in May, saying policymakers should not get "too exercised about a six-week gap" in the timing of a move.
* Hansen said the RBNZ's forecasts for GDP growth of 1.9% in the year to March 2027 and 2.6% in the following year were "pretty good," adding that he expected exports and business investment to generate spillovers into weaker regions. - Reuters
