RBNZ: Rapidly developed and introduced additional monetary policy (AMP) tools

Early Wednesday morning in Asia, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) unveiled a guide to their additional monetary policy (AMP) tools in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Key quotes (from RBNZ website)

'Forward guidance'- we committed to keep the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 0.25 percent for a year.

The Large Scale Asset Purchase (LSAP) program to buy government bonds in order to lower longer-term interest rates. Additional purchases under this program are currently on hold as of 23 July.

And the Funding for Lending (FLP) to help banks borrow at a low cost in order to support their customers.

FX reaction

NZD/USD pays a little heed to the RBNZ announcements while staying firmer after a two-day uptrend to the weekly top, around 0.6955 by the press time.