Economic Weekly: Hitting for six
- The details in last week’s Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion (QSBO) were weak enough to start a veritable stampede of economists calling for the RBNZ to cut the OCR by 50bp this week – ourselves included
- The concerns for us have been that the OCR is a long way from where we judge the ‘goldilocks’ neutral level is, and that data releases like the QSBO show growing risk that the labour market is cracking, and that inflation is likely to fall more swiftly than the RBNZ has anticipated
- Our view is that the RBNZ will cut the OCR by 50bp at both the October and November announcements
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