Reserve Bank of New Zealand Statement Changes: September 22, 2026 vs September 2, 2026

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s communication shifted from a monetary policy update to a statement regarding an independent review. The previous statement, dated September 2, 2026, detailed the “OCR increased by 25 basis points to 2.75%”, discussed inflation being “above the Monetary Policy Committee’s 1 to 3 percent target range”, and outlined expectations for inflation to “fall to 2 percent by late 2027”. This content, along with other economic and inflation forecasts, was entirely removed.

The new statement, dated September 22, 2026, introduced extensive commentary on the “findings of independent review of Covid-19 monetary policy”. Added text included the Board’s welcome of the findings, and commitments from Governor Dr Anna Breman and Mr Finlay that the Reserve Bank team would “carefully consider the review report” and use its “insights to help inform future practice”. The new communication focuses on institutional learning and accountability for past policy decisions, rather than current monetary policy settings or economic outlook. This shift suggests a change in the communication’s topic, not a direct shift in the immediate policy stance.

New this time
– ““On behalf of the Board, I welcome the findings of the independent review.”
– “The Governor and wider Reserve Bank team will carefully consider the review report and use its insights to help inform future practice,” Mr Finlay said.”
– “Governor Dr Anna Breman said the review’s findings would be carefully analysed by officials.”
– ““We will consider the findings of the report, and its insights will contribute to our thinking,” Dr Breman said.”
– ““I am proud to lead an institution that learns from the past in order to benefit New Zealanders.” The independent review examines decisions made during the three years from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2022.”
– “Its findings follow the Reserve Bank’s 2022 5-yearly Review and Assessment of the Formulation and Implementation of Monetary Policy (RAFIMP), which considers the period from 2017 to 2022.”
– “Dr Breman said the independent review would help inform future work.”
– ““The Reserve Bank has already undertaken a number of actions in response to lessons from the 2020–2022 period, as detailed in a Bulletin article published in September 2025.”
– “The independent review offers additional insights that we will carefully consider alongside this work.”

Dropped
– “Summary record of meeting – September 2026 Annual consumers price index inflation is above the Monetary Policy Committee’s 1 to 3 percent target range.”
– “Inflation increased to 4.1 percent in the June 2026 quarter, largely driven by higher fuel and related prices due to the Middle East conflict.”
– “The Committee is setting monetary policy to return inflation to 2 percent by late 2027.”
– “Economic activity is expected to strengthen and broaden.”
– “Inflation is forecast to fall to 2 percent by late 2027 The Committee expects inflation to remain elevated this year before returning to the target band by mid-2027 and reaching the 2 percent mid-point later next year.”
– “Excluding vehicle fuels, annual CPI inflation decreased to 2.9 percent in the June quarter.”
– “Most measures of core inflation are within the 1 to 3 percent target band.”
– “As the effects of higher fuel prices drop out of the annual CPI calculation, spare capacity and the gradual removal of monetary stimulus are expected to support inflation returning to the 2 percent target mid-point.”
– “Forward-looking indicators of inflation and spare capacity are consistent with achieving the medium-term target.”
– “Longer-term inflation expectations remain near 2 percent, while most measures of one- and two-year-ahead inflation expectations have fallen since May.”
– “Expected wage growth is consistent with returning inflation to 2 percent.”
– “Trading partner inflation has increased and export prices remain resilient High and volatile energy and petrochemical-derived product prices have increased inflation in many of New Zealand’s trading partners, increasing import prices.”

0 sentences carried over unchanged.

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