ANZ predicts steeper rate hikes to curb inflation

ANZ predicts steeper rate hikes to curb inflation
Rebecca Howard
ANZ Bank says the central bank needs to go harder to curb inflation and now predicts back-to-back 50 basis point rate hikes in April and May.It now sees the official cash rate reaching a peak of 3.5% in April 2023, versus a prior forecast of 3%. The OCR is currently 1%.The “change comes primarily on the back of our updated CPI (consumers price index) forecasts that now have inflation peaking at a broad-based 7.4% in Q2, rather than the RBNZ’s MPS (monetary policy statement) forecast of a 6.6% peak in Q1”, said chief economist...