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Economic Weekly: Two down

  • And off we go.  Two central banks cut interest rates last week, by 25bp: the Bank of Canada (a dead cert) and the European Central Bank (likely but not as assured)
  • That obviously adds to the global vibe of impatience, given the line-up of countries that – like NZ – are waiting for that moment when their own central bank also reaches that point when inflation is sufficiently tamed
  • We continue to forecast that the RBNZ won’t cut the OCR until next February, a view that other forecasters have gravitated to

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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.