0200 GMT RBNZ announcement and Monetary Policy Statement
- 0300GMT - Governor Orr's press conference
Earlier preview here:
Some comments from the bank anlaysts.
WPAC:
- OCR on hold at 0.25%
- focus will be on the QE program which Westpac expects will be increased to $60bn
- Markets will also be interested in forward guidance on the OCR, the RBNZ in March committing to no changes before March.
ASB:
- A key focus ... will be by how much the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decides to lift its quantitative easing (QE) programme. We expect the size of the programme could be lifted to $60b, from the $30b initially announced.
- we and the consensus expect the OCR to be left at 0.25%
ANZ:
- we expect QE to be roughly doubled,
- the risk is that the RBNZ needs to do more, with inflation expectations taking a massive hit last week
- The market is looking for direction on where to next - and in particular, the likelihood of negative policy rates
- In our view, there are plenty of options that are less risky and more straightforward. We see QE as the tool of choice, with plenty of scope to up the ante effectively.
BNZ:
- RBNZ to leave the cash rate unchanged at 0.25%
- QE ... raising the total to around "up to $60b"
