The Reserve Bank (RBNZ) is set to deliver its eighth consecutive rise in the official cash rate (OCR) this Wednesday as it does another lap in its anti-inflation marathon. Another 50 basis point rise in the OCR to 3.5 percent, the highest level since mid-2015, would seem to be a given, along with another hawkish statement talking of the need to keep raising rates at pace to get inflation back within the 1-3 percent target band. "The key messages this time should, therefore, remain similar to August's: that the RBNZ will keep lifting the OCR until it is 'confident there is sufficient restraint' in place, and it is ... (full story)