A leading economist is sceptical of claims Official Cash Rate hikes will be halted until next year.

The Reserve Bank is providing an OCR update today, with economists predicting it will stay at 5.5 percent.

Westpac Chief Economist Kelly Eckhold says the bank believes this will be on hold until the second half of next year.

But he told Kate Hawkesby with a strong labour market, strong migration, and high inflation, he isn't confident this will be the case.

Eckhold says the Reserve Bank may need to lift the OCR a bit more, so it can get the inflation rate back to under 3 percent in a reasonable time frame.

LISTEN ABOVE