Retail NZ Welcome The OCR Rate Cut

Retail NZ welcomes the Reserve Banks decision to cut the Official Cash Rate by 0.25 to 5.25%, the first cut after eight consecutive no change decisions. The latest economic news has shown that with increasing unemployment and inflation continuing to fall it was widely expected by economists that the Reserve Bank could cut the Official Cash Rate today. Retailers have been hurting over the last 12 months. The most recent Retail NZ Retail Radar Survey found that 71% of members advised that they did not meet sales targets in the last quarter and a whopping 42% indicated that they were not confident they would still be trading in 12 months’ time.

“We are hopeful that this announcement today will turn around consumer confidence, which has been at prolonged low levels over the last couple of years, which in turn will help retailers, who have been suffering a continued downturn in sales. Its welcome news for the wider economy and hopefully we will see an uptick before Christmas” said Carolyn Young, Chief Executive at Retail NZ.

Read the Retail Radar Q2 2024 report here: https://retail.kiwi/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/RetailRadarReport-Q2-2024.pdf

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