Our monetary policy decision documents
We have a range of resources about the OCR and our recent Monetary Policy decision for different audiences.
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Media release and record of meeting
A summary of the Monetary Policy Committee's decision from the meeting on 16 August 2023 (15 minutes to read).
Monetary Policy Statement August 2023
PDF | 9MB
Read this document for a detailed description of the economic outlook and the Monetary Policy Committee’s OCR decision. (1 to 2 hours to read).
Monetary policy data
XLSX | 704KB
Download the data for the OCR projection, our forecasts for macro-economic and other variables and for the charts shown in the Monetary Policy Statement.
Download XLSX
Monetary policy briefing
PDF | 3MB
Look through this slide deck for a brief overview of the OCR decision and economic outlook. (15 minutes to view).
Download PDF
Monetary policy snapshots
PDF | 258KB
Read this document for a brief and less technical description of the OCR decision and the economic outlook. (10 minutes to read).
Download PDF
OCR projections
What did we decide?
On 16 August 2023, the Monetary Policy Committee agreed to maintain the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 5.50%.
In this video, our Chief Economist Paul Conway explains the latest Monetary Policy Statement and why the OCR needs to remain at restrictive levels.
Video transcript: August 16 Monetary Policy Statement
Kia ora, I'm Paul Conway - Chief Economist here at Te Pūtea Matua – the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
On Wednesday August 16, the Monetary Policy Committee agreed to maintain the Official Cash Rate at 5.5%. The current level of interest rates is holding back spending and starting to lower inflation pressure in our economy, as expected and required.
Activity has continued to slow in parts of the economy that are more sensitive to interest rates. Labour shortages are easing as overall demand softens and immigration adds to the available pool of workers. Globally, economic growth is below trend in many of our trading partners. Weaker growth in the global economy has seen New Zealand export prices drop, especially for dairy and meat.
As demand slows in New Zealand, the gap between supply and demand in our economy narrows. In turn, this helps to take the heat out of inflation. But while inflation and inflation expectations have started to fall, they are still far too high. Accordingly, the Official Cash Rate will need to stay at restrictive levels for the foreseeable future to get inflation back in its box.
The Monetary Policy Committee remains confident that by slowing the economy with the OCR at restrictive levels, consumer price inflation will return to the target range of 1 to 3% while supporting maximum sustainable employment.
Thank you.