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Economic Weekly: NZ inflation as expected, labour data next up

  • Annual NZ CPI inflation lifted to 1.7% in Q2, as widely expected.  While annual inflation from some core measures firmed slightly, we do not see this as a barrier to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) cutting the OCR to 1.25% at the August meeting
  • This week is set to be relatively quiet, with key global events including the UK Conservative Party leadership announcement (Wednesday morning), the European Central Bank policy announcement (Thursday night) and US Q2 GDP (Saturday morning).
  • In NZ, the June Trade Balance is due for release this week.

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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.