Economic Weekly: Delicately poised
- Last week, global central banks stuck with their cautious tones largely as expected.
- Locally, the Reserve Bank’s next move is more delicately balanced. Indeed, this week’s Q1 inflation data (due Wednesday) will help bring some clarity at least to the near-term OCR outlook.
- We expect inflation to lift 0.2% over the quarter, and an outturn similar or lower is likely to see interest rate markets price in an increased chance of a May OCR cut.
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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
