An economics professor says the Reserve Bank has made a mistake with yesterday's higher-than-predicted hike.

The Reserve Bank hiked up the OCR by 50 basis points to 5.25 percent, the highest it's been since the 2008 global financial crisis.

Dr Robert MacCulloch, an economics professor from the University of Auckland says there was no need for the Reserve Bank to push the OCR up that high.

"I don't think there was a need to go up 50 basis points, I think at the most they should've gone up 25 or maybe not at all. And the market was certainly expecting 25."

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