Economists at ANZ New Zealand, the country's biggest bank, have brought forward their forecast for the first in a series of Reserve Bank Official Cash Rate (OCR) cuts to February 2025 from May 2025. "The Reserve Bank's concern about the run of higher-than-expected domestic inflation is understandable, but we expect that meaningful progress is around the corner. The real economy is very weak and given the vibe of 'soft data' - surveys, leading indicators and the like, we are now more confident in the weak economic outlook enshrined in our most recent Quarterly Economic Outlook. We've been talking for some time about ... (full story)