As expected, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) decided to raise the official interest rates (OCR) by 0.50% to 2% at its meeting today, Wednesday, May 25th in the Asian session, with the Committee stressing that it is still appropriate to continue tightening monetary policy at a rapid pace to maintain price stability. and support employment levels.

The bank believes that the interest may reach a peak at 3.9% in June of next year and remain fixed there for more than a year, while it is expected that it will reach 3.4% by the end of this year, compared to 2% in February estimates.

The committee affirmed that it is committed and resolute in its commitment to ensure the return of inflation represented in consumer prices to the bank’s target between 1-3% in a sustainable manner.

According to expectations, the committee believes that inflation will reach its peak in the second quarter of this year at 7% before it begins to decline to 6.2% in the third quarter and to 5.5% in the fourth quarter of the year, and that it will enter the bank’s target of 3% in the third quarter of this year.

Next year . The New Zealand economy is expected to grow by about 1.3% in the second quarter ending in June, by 0.6% in the third quarter and 0.5% in the fourth quarter.

The New Zealand dollar has been trading on the rise since the announcement of the statement in the morning, with gains of about 50 points against the US dollar, trading at 0.6505 levels, taking advantage of the bank’s raising its expectations for future interest rates, which means a faster rise and stronger tightening in the upcoming meetings. More powerful .