RBNZ Minutes: Economy is experiencing pockets of both labor shortages and employment slack

Economic activity in New Zealand has returned to close to its pre-covid-19 level

Medium-term outlook for growth remains similar to the scenario presented in the February statement

Committee agreed on the need for caution as domestic activity remains uneven across sectors of the economy.

Economy is experiencing pockets of both labour shortages and employment slack.

Current level of employment remains below their estimates of the maximum sustainable level but expect it to converge to that level over time

Expect to see wage growth lift as firms compete for labour

Committee reed that the OCR is the preferred tool to respond to future economic developments in either direction

Weekly changes in the LSAP purchases do not represent a change in monetary policy stance

Risks to medium-term inflation were mitigated by ongoing global spare capacity and well-anchored inflation expectations.

LSAP programme could not reach the $100bn limit by June 2022

Members reinforced their preference to maintain the current level of monetary stimulus until they were confident that the inflation and employment objectives would be met

Agreed this would require considerable time and patience.

more to come ...