Economics

RBNZ Needs 3% Economic Growth to Meet Targets, Bascand Says

  • Deputy Governor says economy is growing less than potential
  • ‘There’s just not enough pressure to get inflation up’
Photographer: Birgit Krippner/Bloomberg
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New Zealand’s economy needs to grow at around 3% a year for the central bank to meet its inflation and employment goals, Deputy Governor Geoff Bascand said.

Speaking to a Wellington business audience Friday after the Reserve Bank cut interest rates earlier this week, Bascand said growth had fallen below it’s potential rate of 2.8%, meaning more spare capacity in the economy and less price pressure.