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"Tricky balance": Reserve Bank favoured a 'dovish' stance in first OCR call

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 19 Feb 2026, 9:12am
(Photo / NZ Herald)
(Photo / NZ Herald)

"Tricky balance": Reserve Bank favoured a 'dovish' stance in first OCR call

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 19 Feb 2026, 9:12am

The Reserve Bank's kept the OCR unchanged at 2.25% and isn't forecasting any change until the end of the year. 

Governor Anna Breman says inflation should be back within target this quarter. 

She says the economy fundamentals are consistent with inflation falling to, and remaining at, 2% over the medium term. 

Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen told Mike Hosking the Governor is playing with a pretty straight bat. 

He says it’s a tricky balance, as the economy doesn’t quite feel like it has recovery momentum, and they don’t want to cut that off at the knees by spooking anyone, but they do have to be focused on inflation. 

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