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"All just guesswork": Economists warn against hasty raises to the Official Cash Rate

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Wed, 15 Apr 2026, 8:18am

"All just guesswork": Economists warn against hasty raises to the Official Cash Rate

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Wed, 15 Apr 2026, 8:18am

There's division among economists regarding how soon the Reserve Bank should start raising the Official Cash Rate. 

Many now expect the bank to bring forward OCR hikes, with ANZ forecasting three before the election. 

But Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr warns that could be reckless and counterproductive. 

He told Mike Hosking right now we're dealing with more temporary inflation due to higher diesel prices, which should hopefully fall back. 

Kerr says more persistent forms of inflation, like wage and rental inflation, are quite benign at the moment. 

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