Audio: Bollard Briefs MPs On His OCR Rate Rise

Thursday, 7 June 2007, 3:08 pm
Article: Kevin List

This morning Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard raised the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 25 basis points to 8.00 percent. After briefing journalists on why he was raising the OCR early in the morning Dr Bollard headed for Parliament where he engaged in a briefing for the members of Parliament's Finance and Expenditure committee.

Dr Bollard faced a fierce inquisition from National's Finance spokesperson Bill English who repeatedly attempted to get Dr Bollard to inform the committee that the reason he had raised the OCR was because of Government spending leading to inflationary pressures.

Dr Bollard was wise to Mr English's strategems and steered clear of going down the road of making overtly political statements – a road former Reserve Bank Governor Don Brash wasn't shy of taking. Former Labour Cabinet Minister Paul Swain did most of the talking for the 'red team' with new MP Charles Chauvel occasionally tossing in his two cents worth.

An inquiry into monetary policy will be held later this year giving the MPs on the Finance and Expenditure committee another chance to sink their teeth into monetary policy. The committee will be looking at what alternative levers, if any, besides raising the OCR the Reserve Bank may utilise to deal to inflationary pressures.

Listen to the full select committee briefing by Dr Bollard

ENDS

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