The Reserve Bank should start to lift the official cash rate (OCR) this month, after higher than expected inflation figures, ANZ says. Inflation hit 1.6 per cent in the 2013 year, with an unexpected surprise 0.1 per cent lift in the December quarter, when economists had picked prices to drop. It was the highest annual increase in inflation since early 2012. ANZ economists are now calling a January OCR hike because of the higher than expected inflation figures. "We think the Official Cash Rate needs to move sooner as opposed to later and are now actively calling a hike in January," ANZ senior economist Mark Smith ... (full story)