Oil prices are up around US$100/barrel again as the US Navy blockade on Iranian ports begins. ANZ Research changes its call for the Official Cash Rate in New Zealand, and Singapore’s central bank is expected to tighten today.
And then in our deep-dive interview, ANZ NZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner sees the Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiking early and hard from July, to avoid having to go higher later.
5 things to know in 5 minutes:
ANZ Research has changed its call for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, to starting with a rate hike in July, and doing two more before the end of the year. That’s up from one hike this year, starting in December.
India’s annual CPI inflation rate rose to 3.4% in March from 3.2% in February, which was in line with expectations, says ANZ Economist Dhiraj Nim.
The Reserve Bank of India will be watching the energy impact closely, with the risks of the need for policy action growing, says Dhiraj.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore is expected to tighten policy later today to fend off an embedding of inflation expectations from higher energy prices, says ANZ’s Head of Asia Research Khoon Goh.
The BusinessNZ-BNZ PSI survey of the services sector found it fell into even more contractionary territory in March, says ANZ Senior Economist Miles Workman.
Cheers
Bernard.
PS: Catch you tomorrow with what the Monetary Authority of Singapore did today, and the latest from the Iran conflict.
