Live: Reserve Bank cuts the official cash rate by 50bp to 4.75%

Wednesday, 9 October 2024

The Reserve Bank has cut the official cash rate by 50 basis points to 4.75%. You can follow live updates below.

Calls for a 50bp reduction had grown recently, to bring the OCR down to what it was in March last year.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis celebrated the “fantastic news” of the falling OCR, while major banks immediately responded with their own interest rate cuts.

At its August meeting, the RBNZ trimmed the OCR by 25bp to 5.25%, the first cut in four years, and economists have widely predicted the rate will fall by 50bp to 4.75% on Wednesday.

This week economists had reached a consensus on the Reserve Bank’s most likely course of action, tipping a 50-basis point cut.

But one fund manager says the central bank needs to go further and cut the rate by 1.5% cut by Christmas.