The Reserve Bank of New Zealand increased its policy rate by 50 basis points to combat inflation.
New Zealand has raised interest rates for the fourth consecutive year.
The bank increased its policy rate by 50 basis points to 3 percent.
Economists are participating in the Bloomberg survey expected to increase the interest rate to 3 percent.
The bank also announced its forecasts for the upcoming period. Accordingly, while the bank predicts the policy rate at 3.69 percent at the end of the year, it stated that it will peak at 4.1 percent in the second quarter of 2023.
With the last increase decision, the country’s tightening cycle in the previous ten months increased to 2.75 points. This cycle was recorded as the most aggressive tightening in the country in 30 years.
The latest data released in the country showed that inflation reached 7.3 percent, the peak of 32 years. The Central Bank of New Zealand’s year-end inflation forecast is 5.8 percent.
