The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Assistant Governor Christian Hawkesby justified the central bank’s ‘hawkish hold’ decision by saying, the rate hike was postponed due to communication difficulties rather than risks.
Additional quotes
“Policy decisions won't be tightly linked to COVID-19.”
“Lockdowns only delay spending.”
“Demand has proven to be more resilient than anticipated.”
“RBNZ considered boosting OCR by 50 bps.”
Market reaction
The hawkish comments from RBNZ’s Hawkesby failed to lift the NZD bulls, as NZD/USD kept its range around 0.6930, adding 0.58% on the day.
In the last hour, the kiwi spiked to daily highs of 0.6942 before reversing to 0.6930, where it now wavers.
