Comments from speach

He adds:

  • Growth prospects look promising
  • Current policy should see inflation reach 2% target
  • Monitor policy to rremain accommodative
  • Trend may finally be turning on NZ dollar
  • Low point for CPI has probably passed
  • Prospects good for strong growth over next 18 months
  • House price inflation much higher than desirable
  • US growth prospects positive for N.Z.
  • Long-term inflation expectations remain well anchored
  • Official cash rate projections highly conditional on assumptions around exchange rate, migration,, house price inflation
  • Different outcomes from those assumed in November monetary policy statement could imply a different policy path
  • In November monetary policy statement the bank assessed overall balance of risks to be on the downside
  • Projected policy settings will help generate enough growth to have inflation settle near middle of target range

Overall, the comments are more upbeat. The NZDUSD is pushing back higher and moves toward the highs for the day at 0.7166. The high price from last week came in at 0.71688. Above that level and the pair will next target the key 100 day MA at 0.71934.