Reserve Bank of New Zealand Statement Changes: October 28, 2026 vs October 6, 2026

The new statement, “OCR held at 2.75%”, provides a comprehensive Monetary Policy Committee summary, detailing the RBNZ’s objective to “return inflation to the 2 percent target mid-point over the medium term, discounting temporary disturbances in inflation”. It notes that “Inflation is above the 1 to 3 percent target range”, with headline inflation at 3.7 percent in September, “slightly lower than expected”. Non-tradables inflation was also “weaker than expected”. The Committee observed that “The pass-through of the initial surge in global prices to domestic price categories has so far been less than previously assumed”, and “medium-term inflation expectations remain well anchored”. While price increases have become “more broad-based” and inflation is expected to “remain elevated in the near term” due to volatile tradable prices, the detailed assessment suggests a nuanced view. The changes indicate a policy stance focused on assessing the persistence of inflation drivers, with observations of some inflation measures being “lower than expected” supporting the decision to hold the OCR.

New this time
– “Summary record of meeting – October 2026 MPR The Monetary Policy Committee is setting monetary policy to return inflation to the 2 percent target mid-point over the medium term, discounting temporary disturbances in inflation and avoiding unnecessary instability in the economy.”
– “Inflation is above the 1 to 3 percent target range Annual consumers price index (CPI) inflation is above the Committee’s 1 to 3 percent target range.”
– “Headline inflation was 3.7 percent in the September 2026 quarter, slightly lower than expected and down from 4.1 percent in the June quarter.”
– “Higher fuel and related prices have directly increased inflation and flowed through to domestic prices via higher input costs.”
– “Annual tradables inflation fell from 4.9 percent to 4.3 percent in the September quarter but was slightly higher than expected.”
– “Excluding vehicle fuels, annual inflation increased to 3 percent in the September quarter.”
– “The pass-through of the initial surge in global prices to domestic price categories has so far been less than previously assumed.”
– “Impacts on short-term pricing behaviour appear to have been contained and medium-term inflation expectations remain well anchored.”
– “Measures of non-tradables inflation are mixed.”
– “Non-tradables inflation was 3.3 percent in the September quarter, but this was weaker than expected and partly reflects elevated government charges.”
– “Core inflation measures have risen to around the top of the Committee’s 1 to 3 percent target band, broadly in line with expectations.”
– “Price increases have become more broad-based since the June quarter.”

Dropped
– “We have updated the media conference and publication arrangements for the October 2026 MPR and the November 2026 FSR.”
– “The October MPR media conference will be held as a hybrid event from our Auckland office, with media able to attend and ask questions in person or online.”
– “The October MPR will continue to be published on 28 October 2026 at 2pm.”
– “The November FSR will now be published on 17 November 2026 at 9am, instead of 11 November 2026.”
– “The FSR media conference will continue to be held online only.”
– “Invitations to both media conferences will be sent to media closer to the publication dates.”
– “The public can watch all media conferences via livestream on our website.”

0 sentences carried over unchanged.

Sentence-level comparison of the two statements as published. This describes language changes, it is not trading advice.