The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) is the central bank of New Zealand.
Founded in 1934, it was established 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.
Monetary Policy Committee
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is responsible for setting New Zealand’s monetary policy and aims to achieve the following economic objectives:
- Achieve and maintain overall price level stability in the medium term; and
- Support maximum sustainable employment.
The MPC is bound by the MPC Terms of Reference and the MPC Constitution and members must also adhere to the Code of Conduct. These documents are issued under the Monetary Policy Framework.
MPC Member
Adrian Orr is the Governor of the Reserve Bank. His term is five years, from March 2018 to 2023.
Geoff Bascand is the Reserve Bank’s Deputy Governor and General Manager for Financial Stability. His term is five years, from April 2018 to 2023.
Christian Hoxby is the Reserve Bank’s Assistant Governor and General Manager for Economics, Financial Markets and Banking. His term is five years, from April 2019 to 2024.
Yuong Ha is the Reserve Bank’s Chief Economist. Mr Ha’s term is for one year, from April 2019 to 2020, while the position of chief economist is vacant. Now officially serves as chief economist (the current term remains unchanged).
How the New Zealand Central Bank releases information
The Bank publishes a quarterly monetary policy statement, a Official Cash Rate (OCR) announcement every six weeks, and a twice-yearly Financial Stability Report.
All upcoming announcements and publication dates are listed at the bottom of the RBNZ website.
The Bank also hosts over 120 presentations to business groups and organizations throughout the year.
Speaking events are often hosted by other organizations and are usually by invitation only or not open to the public. These speaking engagements are mostly informal and focus on recently released information.
The Reserve Bank will advise on upcoming formal speeches where possible. If you would like to know about upcoming public speaking releases, please check out the upcoming public speaking posting list page
Speeches delivered are usually accompanied by a press release.
RBNZ press releases are posted in the News section.
Monetary Policy Statement
The Reserve Bank releases the Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) every quarter.
Every monetary policy statement must state:
- The approach taken by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to achieve the operational objectives defined within its terms of reference.
- MPC Reasons for adopting this approach.
- Transparency and Accountability Requirements of the MPC Charter:
- Explain how the MPC seeks to meet the requirements of Section 2b of the Terms of Reference;
- If inflation outcomes (and/or expected outcomes) are outside the target range, please explain why;
- Explain how monetary policy currently supports maximum sustainable employment.
The central bank holds a media conference at 3:00 pm on the day it releases its monetary policy statement and 11:00 am on the day it releases its financial stability report.
You can watch live broadcasts of these media sessions.
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