The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) is the central bank of New Zealand.

It was established in 1934 and is constituted under the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989.

The Reserve Bank manages monetary policy to maintain price stability, promotes the maintenance of a sound and efficient financial system, and supplies New Zealand banknotes and coins.

RBNZ

Monetary Policy Committee

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is responsible for formulating monetary policy in New Zealand, directed towards the economic objectives of:

  • achieving and maintaining stability in the general level of prices over the medium term; and
  • supporting maximum sustainable employment.

The MPC is subject to the remit for the MPC and the MPC charter, and members must also follow the code of conduct. These documents are published under Monetary Policy Framework.

MPC Members

Adrian Orr is the Governor of the Reserve Bank. He has a five-year term from March 2018-2023.

Geoff Bascand is the Deputy Governor and General Manager of Financial Stability at the Reserve Bank. He has a five-year term from April 2018-2023.

Christian Hawkesby is Assistant Governor and General Manager of Economics, Financial Markets, and Banking at the Reserve Bank. He has a five year term from April 2019-2024.

Yuong Ha is the Chief Economist at the Reserve Bank. Mr. Ha was appointed for a one year term from April 2019-2020 while the role of Chief Economist was vacant. He has now taken on the role of Chief Economist formally (the current term remains the same).

How the RBNZ Releases Information

The Bank publishes Monetary Policy Statements every quarter, Official Cash Rate (OCR) announcements every six weeks, and Financial Stability Reports twice a year.

All upcoming announcements and publication release dates are listed at the bottom of the RBNZ’s website.

The Bank also gives more than 120 presentations to business groups and organizations throughout the year.

Speaking events are usually hosted by other organizations, and are often invitation-only or closed to the public. Most of these speaking events are off-the-record and focus on the recently published information.

The Reserve Bank will advise of upcoming on-the-record speeches where possible. If you would like to know what public speeches are coming up, check the upcoming public speech release listings page

Published speeches are normally accompanied by a news release.

RBNZ news releases are published in the news section.

Monetary Policy Statement

The Reserve Bank publishes its Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) quarterly.

Each Monetary Policy Statement must set out:

  • The approach the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is taking to achieve its operational objectives defined in the Remit.
  • The MPC’s reasoning for adopting that approach.
  • The transparency and accountability requirements of the MPC Charter:
    • explain how the MPC has sought to meet the requirements of section 2b of the Remit;
    • if inflation outcomes (and/or expected outcomes) are outside of the target range, explain the reason for this;
    • explain how monetary policy is currently supporting maximum sustainable employment.

The Bank hosts a media conference at 3:00 pm on the days it releases Monetary Policy Statements, and 11:00 am on the days it releases Financial Stability Reports.

You can watch a live stream of these media conferences.