RBNZ Maintains Key Rate at 3.5%, Would Cut on Weaker Prices

New Zealand’s central bank said it will keep interest rates at a stimulatory level and would cut them if demand and prices weaken. The local dollar fell.

“The bank expects to keep monetary policy stimulatory and is not currently considering any increase in interest rates,” Governor Graeme Wheeler said Thursday in Wellington after keeping the official cash rate at 3.5 percent. “It would be appropriate to lower the OCR if demand weakens and wage and price-setting outcomes settle at levels lower than is consistent with the inflation target.”