RBNZ to cut rates by 25bps to 0.75% on Wednesday – Reuters poll

A majority of the economists polled by Reuters showed that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) is likely to slash the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 25 bps at its monetary policy meeting this Wednesday, which will be its last policy decision for of the year.

Key Findings:

“Twelve out of 15 analysts expected the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) would cut rates to 0.75% this week from the current 1%.

All 13 economists who forecast beyond this week's meeting expected the bank to have cut rates by at least 25 basis points by the end of next year, with ANZ Bank forecasting rates would be as low as 0.25%.

A slowing global economy, the protracted China-U.S. trade war and warnings of recession have spurred major central banks across the world to ease monetary policy.

At home, gloomy business confidence has been concerning the bank and poses a risk to growth as firms indicate their own activity is slowing and they are holding off on investment.”

• NZD/USD seesaws around 3-week low amid mixed bag of data/news