Adrian Orr
Monetary Policy Committee
Our Monetary Policy Committee is responsible for making monetary policy in New Zealand to maintain price stability.
About the Monetary Policy Committee
The Monetary Policy Committee is bound by a remit, charter and code of conduct. The remit provides the Monetary Policy Committee with its operational objectives, and the charter provides directions on decision-making procedures, transparency and accountability. The code of conduct sets out minimum standards of ethical and professional conduct to which members must adhere.
Together, these 3 documents form the Monetary Policy Framework.
Read more about the Monetary Policy Framework
Internal members
Christian Hawkesby
Karen Silk
Paul Conway
Professor Bob Buckle
Professor Bob Buckle is Professor Emeritus at Victoria University of Wellington. He was Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Victoria Business School from 2008 to 2017; Principal Adviser at NZ Treasury from 2000 to 2008, Chair of the Economic Committee of APEC, Chair of the Government’s 2009-10 Tax Working Group, and Chair of the External Panel for Treasury’s Long-Term Fiscal Statement in 2012.
Professor Buckle chairs review teams for European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) and is an ambassador for Victoria Business School’s ‘Great Futures’ scholarships. Professor Buckle’s term on the MPC has been extended by 6 months from 31 March 2025 to 30 September 2025.
Carl Hansen
Carl Hansen is an economist and Executive Director of Capital Strategic Advisors (CSA) Limited, an independent consultancy based in Wellington. He has held several leadership roles, including chief executive of M-co New Zealand Limited and the NZ Electricity Authority.
Mr Hansen has been appointed to the Committee for a three-year term, beginning on 1 April 2024 and ending on 31 March 2027.
Mr Hansen has worked for a wide range of public sector agencies, including the Reserve Bank, where he worked on liquidity management policy and macroeconomic modelling. He has also worked for the Business Roundtable, Treasury and the Law and Economics Consulting Group.
Before his current role at CSA, Mr Hansen was a member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Group, the Asia Pacific Energy Regulators Forum, advisor to the Security and Reliability Council, and chaired several electricity industry advisory groups. In his current role, he has advised government and private clients on tax policy, infrastructure funding and financing, and market trading and regulation in the electricity, water and forestry sectors.
Professor Prasanna Gai
Prasanna Gai is Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of Auckland and Head of the Departments of Economics, Accounting & Finance, and Property. He is a member of the Board of the Financial Markets Authority, a Senior Research Fellow at the Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt, a Fellow of the National Institute of Social and Economic Research (NIESR), London, and a Research Associate of the Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis (CAMA), Canberra.
Professor Gai has been appointed to the Committee for a four-year term, beginning on 1 July 2024 and ending on 30 June 2028.
Professor Gai is a graduate of the Australian National University and received his doctorate from the University of Oxford.
Professor Gai began his career at the Bank of England, where he held increasingly senior analytical and managerial positions before taking up a Professorship at the Australian National University. He has also been a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, a member of the Advisory Scientific Committee of the European Systemic Risk Board, Frankfurt, and Special Advisor to the Governor of the Bank of Canada.
Professor Gai’s research spans international economics, financial stability, monetary policy, and political economy and has been published in leading journals, including Review of Financial Studies, Economic Journal, Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of International Economics, and the Proceedings of the Royal Society (A). He is the author of 2 books on financial crises and systemic risk, both published by the Oxford University Press.
How the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is appointed
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021 explains how MPC members are appointed and reappointed. The Minister of Finance appoints both internal and external members based on recommendations from the Board.
Read the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021
Length of appointments
MPC members serve fixed terms.- Internal members must be appointed for up to a term of up to 5 years and can be reappointed for 2 further terms as an internal member of up to 5 years each.
- External members must be appointed for a term of up to 4 years and can be reappointed for 1 further term as an external member of up to 4 years.
This clause does not prevent a person who has served as a member in a particular capacity from being appointed, or holding office, as a member in a different capacity.
Clause 22
Under Clause 22, an internal or external member continues in office despite the expiry of the member’s term of office until:
- they are reappointed again, or
- someone else is appointed in their place, or
- if the Minister of Finance decides in writing that the existing MPC member won't be reappointed, and no one will be appointed to replace them.
Any reappointment or new appointment is made after consideration by the Cabinet Appointment and Honours Committee and a decision by the Minister of Finance.
Clause 22 of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021
Previous external MPC members
Peter Harris
Peter Harris is an economist with extensive experience in the trade union movement, including a decade as CTU Economist. He is currently an economic consultant. He has been a member of the Electricity Commission and an associate member of the Commerce Commission. He was Economic Advisor to the Minister of Finance from 1999 to 2002.
Mr Harris was a management head of the Public Service Association, and a Board Member of PSIS Ltd and the NZ Universities Academic Audit Board. He led the Government’s Savings Product Working Group in 2004. He is also a member of the Wellington City Council Finance Audit and Risk Committee. Mr Harris was reappointed for a term of 18 months from 1 April 2022 and then extended for a term commencing on 1 October 2023 ending on 31 March 2024.
Professor Caroline Saunders
Professor Caroline Saunders holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics. She is currently Professor of International Trade and the Environment and Director, Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit, at Lincoln University. Professor Saunders is a Director on the board of Landcare Research NZ, and sits on the Biosecurity Ministerial Advisory Committee.
Professor Saunders is a former director of AgriQuality and Council member for the Royal Society of New Zealand. Professor Saunders was initially appointed for a 4-year term from April 2019 to 2023 and has been reappointed for a term commencing on 17 April 2023 and ending on 30 June 2024.