Comment attributable to Brian Jolliffe, Managing Director, MARAC:
“We are currently seeing Governments around the world working hard to stabilise their economies and with the decrease in
the OCR today and the introduction of the Deposit Guarantee Scheme, New Zealand is no exception to this.
“By international standards, New Zealand has had very high interest rates and this has given the Reserve Bank the
ability to alleviate some of the pressure by making a significant cut to the OCR.
“Coupled with the recent tax cuts, falling oil prices and the depreciation of the New Zealand dollar, lower interest
rates should provide some additional relief for New Zealand businesses and homeowners.
“However, investors who are currently relying on income from fixed interest investments may need to consider locking in
longer terms to take advantage of the rates currently being offered as it is likely that we will see fixed interest
rates falling on the back of today’s announcement.”
ENDS