The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) building in Wellington, New Zealand, on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023.
Mark Coote | Bloomberg | Getty Images
New Zealand’s central bank on Wednesday slashed benchmark rates by 50 basis points to 3.75%, marking its fourth straight cut, as easing inflation offers the central bank room to boost a sputtering economy.
The move was in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters, and marks the lowest the policy rate since November 2022.
In its monetary policy statement, the central bank said inflation remained near the mid-point of its target band of 1%-3%.
New Zealand reported headline inflation rate of 2.2% in the quarter ended December 2024, with price growth falling for seven of the last eight quarters, according to LSEG data.
The rate cut also comes at a time when the country’s growth has been declining on a year-on-year basis for five straight quarters to September 2024, according to government data.
The New Zealand dollar strengthened by 0.4% to trade at 0.568 against the greenback.
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