Post MPS media interviews and speaking engagements

Governor Dr Anna Breman will give an interview for Newstalk ZB's Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive from about 5pm to 5:15pm.

External MPC member Carl Hansen agreed to an interview with Newsroom on 27 May 2026. 

The following is a summary of topics covered and quotes relating to his own views about Monetary Policy. Comments relating to MPC’s views and information already expressed in the MPS and Record of Meeting have not been included here.

• Inflation drivers and indicators
• Monetary Policy decision: Carl Hansen outlined he preferred a 25bp increase now to send an early signal to wage/price setters and preserve optionality for July while avoiding the need for a larger later move. “… In this very uncertain environment—and I don’t think that uncertainty will disappear quickly - if we were at 2.5 from today, it would make it easier to either hold or go up another step in July. It would depend on indicators and our judgments. Holding at 2.25 means a 50 point jump in July would be a big call. That’s the view: we see cost pressures coming through, and we’re not far apart as a committee. What you’re seeing are nuances and finer judgments. I saw that as another advantage of raising today. The committee decision was to hold, and that’s fine too.”
  
  “ … The global situation is changing day by day. It’s good to provide predictability and gradualism. Starting today was my preference. For example, my preference was to raise today and hold in July.”
• Trade-offs: Carl Hansen stresses the policy tension between cost-push inflation risks and a weakening economy/unemployment risk; he supports a modest projected tightening path rather than sharp increases.
• Decision-making and transparency: He supports the new MPC transparency arrangements and sees value in explaining individual reasoning and accountability. “As a committee it’s been working really well. I’ve really enjoyed this round. It’s been a respectful and rigorous process, as it always is. The Reserve Bank runs a really great open process.”
• Fiscal policy
• Uncertainty and lags
• Engagement approach: Carl Hansen says he prefers listening/engagement (including joining the Governor on an upcoming outreach) as opposed to delivering speeches, given the part-time nature of the role and limited resourcing.
  
   

Governor Dr Anna Breman will give the following media interviews:

• TVNZ's BNZ Business Breakfast from 6am to 6:30am
• Radio NZ's Morning Report from 6am to 9am
• Ryan Bridge Today from 7am to 7:30am
• Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking Breakfast from 7:30am to 8am

Grasshoppers Hawkes Bay

Governor Anna Breman will speak at a lunch event in the Hawke’s Bay as part of her regional engagement programme. She will discuss insights from the May MPS, using the presentation slides that will be published on 27 May. She will not share any new insights beyond those contained in the May MPS.

There is no livestream, but attendees can request a voice recording afterwards.

Media interviews

Assistant Governor Karen Silk will give the following media interviews:

• Bloomberg
• Reuters
• BusinessDesk
• Interest.co.nz

Chief Economist Paul Conway will give the following media interviews: 

• National Business Review
• NZ Herald
• The Post
• Market News International

MPC External Member Carl Hansen will give the following media interview:

• Central Bank Intel

MPC External Member Hayley Gourley will give the following media interviews:

• Reuters
• The Post

External MPC member Hayley Gourley agreed to an interview with Reuters on 29 May 2026

The following is a summary of topics covered and quotes relating to her own views about Monetary Policy. Comments relating to MPC’s views and information already expressed in the MPS and Record of Meeting have not been included here. 

• External inflation pressures
• Business behaviour and domestic inflation
• Monetary policy approach
  
  “ My preference in thinking about a 25 point increase now, was thinking that that may make future increases more gradual and enable that early signalling to New Zealanders that we were going to see that stimulus removed from monetary policy settings over time. It really will depend on what happens over the next five to six weeks for me, and the beauty of Monetary Policy Committee is that we get the opportunity to start with almost a blank sheet of paper each time, in terms of our views –and we plan to do that.”
  
  
• MPC decision-making dynamics
• Sectoral differences in the economy
• Governance and voting
• Public communication and engagement 
  
  Hayley welcomed increased transparency and MPC engagement. “You learn more and can engage more with the New Zealand public in a two-way fashion when you are out and about. And I enjoyed the opportunity to be in the Waikato with the governor about a month ago. And that was a really good opportunity to hear first-hand what’s happening in other parts of the country.”
  
  
• Interest rate outlook
• Managing uncertainty
• Monetary policy mandate

External MPC member Hayley Gourley agreed to an interview with the Post on 29 May 2026

The following is a summary of topics covered and quotes relating to her own views about Monetary Policy. Comments relating to MPC’s views and information already expressed in the MPS and Record of Meeting have not been included here. 

• Monetary Policy Decision and vote
• Inflation Drivers and outlook
  
  “My thinking was looking at the external factors on the New Zealand economy, which to me were pointing all in an inflationary direction in terms of the Middle East conflict, obviously, what is happening amongst our trading partners in terms of rising inflation there, and the likelihood that that becomes, you know, imported inflation for New Zealand. And the expectation that fuel price increases will really reach every nook and cranny in the economy here in New Zealand, and expecting that businesses, where they can or need to, recover those cost increases, and that will therefore be inflationary locally.
  
  So, then my thinking was around, while the domestic reaction to that is still evolving, what is likely to happen and what would be best longer term for the economy, to ensure that those inflation expectations remain anchored. And that's where I felt that moving and removing the stimulus from monetary policy settings sooner, rather than later, would help anchor those inflation… to provide a lower peak, potentially, to inflation, and to potentially limit the negative impacts on growth that are inevitable during inflationary times, to try and really smooth that impact for all New Zealanders, and have a more moderate outcome over the medium term”
  
  “My perspective was that businesses would look to recover costs, that prices would impact consumers, and that we would see second round effects come through. Therefore, removing monetary stimulus ahead of that was my thinking around an earlier move.”
  
  
• Balancing inflation and economic growth
• Nature of MPC deliberations
• Internal vs external member split
• MPC culture, governance and decision-making process
• Middle East conflict and global uncertainty

External MPC member Carl Hansen agreed to an interview with Central Bank Intel on 29 May 2026

The following is a summary of topics covered and quotes relating to his own views about Monetary Policy. Comments relating to MPC’s views and information already expressed in the MPS and Record of Meeting have not been included here.

• Monetary policy outlook and Carl Hansen’s preferred OCR path
  
  “My preference was to raise the OCR to 2.5 in May. And then I was thinking potentially my central scenario was the hold of July and then raise again in September. And beyond that, a lot can happen. But I think it is sort of a fine judgement. I think what was underpinning my thinking was that we know that one way or another, whatever we're doing, we're going to be either raising the OCR quite gradually, because demand is quite weak overall, is quite a variance of demand. Some sectors do have more demand than others, but overall it's kind of weak. And so it is constraining wage and price setters. So we're in a very fortunate position there, but what I thought was that raising in May would create an option that if the circumstances did change, we could rise again in July.”
  
  “My central projection was hold in July, and then raise again in September, but then hold through to around about February. So you could imagine, relative to the central projection, that that would actually have me under the OCR for the central projection in the latter part of the year .… even then, it's a lot of uncertainty. So, it's not a high bar for me to change my view on the outer ends of that as you go further out into future. So I don't put a lot of weight on my thinking beyond September.”
  
  
• Neutral rate estimates and the weight placed on near-term uncertainty
• Data before the next meetings how the OCR track is set
• Committee judgement, voting, transparency, and the Governor’s role
• Market expectations, external speeches, and communication of policy signals
• Middle East conflict, oil prices, and upside risks to inflation
• Output gap, wage and price setting, and the scenario analysis in the MPS
• Exchange rate effects and imported inflation
• Migration assumptions