New Zealand - Jobs mandate to move the goalposts not change the game

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand will leave interest rates at 1.75% at the policy meeting on Thursday 9th November and by adopting a more cautious tone in the accompanying Monetary Policy Statement it will again warn the financial markets that they are wrong to assume rates will rise next year. The RBNZ won’t take an axe to its economic forecasts now it knows the shape of the new government, but it will surely say that the outlook is more uncertain. And if the government moves the RBNZ’s policy goalposts next year, then there’s a slightly greater chance that rates will stay at 1.75% for all of 2019.