Economics

New Zealand Turns to Quantitative Easing to Support Economy

  • RBNZ to buy up to NZ$30b of govt bonds on secondary market
  • ‘This package is huge,’ ANZ rate strategist David Croy says
Photographer: Birgit Krippner/Bloomberg
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New Zealand’s central bank has taken the historic leap to quantitative easing to try to limit a looming recession as the negative economic impacts of the coronavirus outbreak intensify.

The Reserve Bank will buy up to NZ$30 billion ($17 billion) of government bonds in the secondary market over the next 12 months, it said in a statement Monday. It will seek to buy NZ$750 million bonds a week across a range of maturities, via an auction process, it said. The program will begin this week with NZ$500 million of purchases.