On 10 March 2020 Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr delivered a speech assessing the context of low interest rates, the potential need to go beyond using the Official Cash Rate (OCR) to provide stimulus, and outlining what other monetary policy tools might look like.2 Just six days later, in response to rising negative economic implications of COVID-19 the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) agreed to drop the OCR 75 basis points to 0.25 percent, and introduced New Zealand’s first additional monetary policy (AMP)3 tool – forward guidance – by committing to keeping the OCR at 0.25 percent for at least 12 months. A week ... (full story)