Economic Weekly: Feeling flat
- This week is set to bring a bit of a pattern shift: a RBNZ meeting without a change in the OCR
- That would be the first such meeting since August 2021, and even then, the RBNZ only held fire because the Government had the day before put the country into Level 4 lockdown
- Now the RBNZ is in the position of feeling that the 5.5% OCR is high enough to get inflation back into the 1-3% target band in an acceptable timeframe (the second half of next year in the RBNZ’s May forecasts)
Contact us
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
