Wednesday, July 22, 2026

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Reserve Bank raises OCR to 2.50% as inflation risks persist

Reserve Bank OCR July 2026

The Reserve Bank has increased the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 25 basis points to 2.50%, signalling that further tightening may be required as it works to return inflation to its 2% target.

The Monetary Policy Committee said the recent partial reopening of the Strait of Hormuz had driven oil and other petrochemical prices lower, easing short-term inflation pressures. However, it warned that the effects of the earlier energy shock would continue to influence the economy and that uncertainty remained over the outlook for medium-term inflation.

The Committee said New Zealand’s economic recovery had been gathering pace before the Middle East conflict but lost momentum during the June quarter as higher energy costs weighed on activity. It expects growth to resume in the September quarter as those impacts diminish and business and consumer confidence improves.



Internationally, the Reserve Bank said global growth had remained resilient despite trade tariffs and conflict in the Middle East, supported by investment in artificial intelligence, defence, and economic security. While inflation has risen across New Zealand’s major trading partners, it is expected to ease towards 2% by 2027. Financial markets are also anticipating higher global interest rates than before the conflict, reflecting concerns that elevated energy costs could keep inflationary pressures alive.

Domestically, the Reserve Bank said spare capacity in the economy should limit businesses’ ability to pass higher costs on to consumers, although some firms may attempt to rebuild profit margins as demand strengthens. It also noted that a weaker New Zealand dollar could add to inflation if sustained.

With inflation still above target and economic activity expected to strengthen, the Committee said additional reductions in monetary stimulus were likely to be needed. It said future OCR decisions would depend on incoming economic data, pricing behaviour by businesses, and the persistence of medium-term inflation pressures.

Image credit: Getty Images

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7 COMMENTS

  1. Why are we letting foreign Jew bankers dictate our interest rates in NZ. They print our money from fresh air then charge us interest for our own money.

  2. “Let me issue and control a nation’s money and I care not who writes the laws.” Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812), founder of the House of Rothschild.
    “The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is, perhaps, the most astounding piece of sleight of hand that was ever invented. Banks can in fact inflate, mint and un-mint the modern ledger-entry currency.” Major L L B Angus.
    “It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and money system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company.

  3. We need to put up your home repayments to stop you filling up your vehicle with hiked up fuel prices and stop using greedy business’s charging you over the top travel expenses, YOU ONLY HAVE YOURSELVES TO BLAME.

  4. A couple of weeks ago the IMF urged the NZ government to increase intrest rates. That wasy the only suggestion.

    The second directive was to consider a wealth tax.

    Most peoples wealth is property. It is already over taxed. Many see rental investment as a liability. Shoragr of people in NZ, a birthrate below replacement. Overwhelming non compliance compensation to tenants.

    Tribunal difficulty in obtaining fair and balance justice.

    Capital gains tax is just a transfer of wealth from the people who made it the people who invested it to the people who overspent their budget.

    I agree, there are people who need help. The are the sick, they are the old, they are the ones who face tragedy.

    They are not the Maori, they are not the lazy.

    Cut back on Government employees. Re-establish government works rather than pay profits to construction firms. I.e. a man who can’t afford to paid for his car to be repaired or his house to be painted, his lawns to be mowed, does it himself. His savings means he can live comfortably. Go on holiday, afford retirement.

    Those who carry the water from the river to the house on top of the hill know the value of ever single drop. Those who don’t carry the water, waste it on ideology, shit they like but they don’t need.

    Lower overheads, less stress, peaceful and affordable life for everyone.

    • “When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is
      gain.” ~Napoléon Bonaparte

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