Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
ANZ is the latest bank to increase interest rates.
It is increasing its 18-month to five-year rates by 20 basis points, and its one-year rate by 10 basis points.
Its six-month special rate remains at 4.49 percent.
It is also increasing the rates it pays on term deposits by between 15 basis points and 40 basis points.
The three-year rate is now 4.4 percent, which the bank said was an 18-month high.
ANZ managing director for personal banking Grant Knuckey said it was a response to rising wholesale interest rates.
“Since the fixed rate changes we made in February, wholesale rates have continued to rise across all terms.”
Knuckey said customers were still seeing the benefit of earlier cuts to interest rates.
“Seventy-eight percent of ANZ’s fixed home loans are now on rates below 5 percent, a significant shift from the end of 2024 when fewer than 10 percent of loans were on rates below 5 percent.”
Economists and forecasters have been split on the likely outlook for rates.
While tension in the Middle East is likely to be a damper on the economy, it is also expected to fuel inflation.
Earlier, Squirrel chief executive David Cunningham said there could be merit in fixing for six months, on the assumption that the economy would be weak enough that the official cash rate was unlikely to rise in that time.
But Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan said two-year rates were offering good levels of certainty at reasonable prices.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
