New Zealand’s central bank held its key interest rate at 2.5 percent on Thursday, citing disruption by a major earthquake to the country’s recovery from recession as a reason to continue to boost economic activity.
The Reserve Bank’s Official Cash Rate (OCR) was cut from 3.0 percent in early March after the destructive 6.3 magnitude earthquake on 22 February that killed at least 191 people in the city of Christchurch, causing substantial damage to property and buildings and significant disruption to regional business activity.
Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard said, however, that early signs of recovery have continued throughout the rest of the country and "the outlook for the New Zealand economy has improved."
(Source: CNBC)