Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ / Quin Tauetau
BNZ is the latest major bank to raise interest rates.
It has put its one-year rate up by six basis points, to 4.59 percent, its 18-month rate up by the same margin to 4.79 percent and its two-year rate by 20 basis points, to 5.09 percent.
Two-year rates have had some of the larger increases in recent weeks, as banks have pushed rates up.
From a low of 4.5 percent in November, according to Reserve Bank stats, all the main banks are now advertising rates of more than 5 percent.
The move is driven in part by wholesale markets, where banks get some of their funding, increasing their expectation that central banks will have to raise rates to combat inflation caused by the Middle East conflict.
In November last year, the two-year swap rate was about 2.4 percent but that has risen to more than 3.1 percent.
Economists have forecast that the Reserve Bank may need to raise rates from the middle of the year.
ASB said this week it expects a July increase is possible but that a 25bp hike in May could not be ruled out.
Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan earlier said the central bank would not be able to wait until inflation was clearly a problem before acting.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
