Economic Weekly: Central banks move into action
- Coronavirus panic continued to escalate over the past week with offshore central banks moving to lower policy rates to buffer the economic shock.
- While the Reserve Bank of Australia lowered its Cash Rate 25 basis points last week, the Federal Reserve spooked markets with an unscheduled 50 basis point cut to the Fed Funds rate.
- We now expect the RBNZ to (calmly) cut the OCR 25 basis points apiece in March and May.
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Mark Smith
Senior Economist
Mark joined ASB in 2017, with over 20 years of public and private sector experience working as an economist in New Zealand and the UK.
His resume includes lengthy stints at ANZ and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and he has also worked at the Bank of England, HM Treasury and the New Zealand Transport Agency. Mark's areas of specialisation include interest rate strategy, macro-economic analysis and urban economics.
Born and bred in the Waikato, Mark studied at Waikato University where he graduated with a Master of Social Sciences, majoring in Economics.
Mark's key strengths are the ability to use his extensive experience, inquisitive nature, analytical ability, creativity and pragmatism to dig a little deeper and to deliver common sense solutions to tackle complex problems.
When not at work Mark likes to travel, keep fit and spend time with his friends and family.
- Email: Mark
