Economic Weekly: What are you waiting for?
- It was a busy week for NZ Economists last week, with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) May Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) and Official Cash Rate (OCR) decision on Wednesday followed by Budget 2026 on Thursday
- The RBNZ left the OCR unchanged at 2.25% at the May MPS, as widely expected
- ASB economists continue to expect the RBNZ will commence lifting the OCR back to neutral levels at its next review in July
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