Performance reviews are never fun and they're often more complicated than they should be, writes Bernard Hickey.

Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler has emphasised the flexibility written into his inflation policy targets agreement.

The Reserve Bank has left its official cash rate unchanged at 2.50 per cent, in line with market expectations.

Climate change may still seem a distant threat, but a "Super El Nino" summer is already evident.

The Reserve Bank has cut its official cash rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.5 per cent, signalling a likely end to the current easing cycle.

Like three quick wickets in a test match on an otherwise lifeless pitch, this week's monetary policy statement suddenly has a bit of an edge to it.

Economists expect the Reserve Bank to cut its official cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.5 per cent at this Thursday's monetary policy statement, but the financial markets are not so sure.

New Zealand business confidence rose to a six-month high in November, signalling a pick-up in the economy.

Auckland house prices have been driven by speculative demand as much as - or probably more than - a shortage of supply.

An "alarming" number of landlords remain largely ignorant of new Reserve Bank LVR rules which demand Auckland investors have 30 per cent deposits.

An enterprising entrepreneur has made a tidy profit on a pair of $10 banknotes not yet in circulation.

But Reserve Bank governor is wary of stoking housing market.

New $5 and $10 notes are released into circulation today.

No news was not good news when the US Federal Reserve left rates on hold last week.

Policymakers inevitably get things wrong from time to time, writes Brian Fallow. But if they are to learn from their mistakes, they first have to acknowledge that they are mistakes.

New research finds that many businesses in NZ do not have a clear understanding of inflation rates, much less the role of the central bank.

Despite cutting interest rates three times this year Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler says he remains optimistic about the New Zealand economy.

The Reserve Bank surprised no one by cutting its official cash rate at yesterday's official cash rate review. The challenge now facing the central bank lies not in holding inflation down, but in holding it up.

Te Hau ki Turanga Trust claims the Reserve Bank used one of its cultural patterns on the new $10 bank note without permission.

Final versions of the new $5 and $10 banknotes have been revealed - with brighter colours, but the same famous faces and flora and fauna design features.

A former Citibank and UBS trader is going to jail after a jury found him guilty of masterminding the manipulation of the key Libor interest rate.

The tide has turned on the economic boom. The slump in dairy prices has once again laid bare the vulnerabilities of a commodity-dominated economy.

New Zealand business confidence fell for a second month, to the most pessimistic in six years, led by the agricultural sector and construction companies.

The New Zealand dollar fell as Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler's message that the currency needs to depreciate combined with a more optimistic United States labour market.

New Zealand banks approved three times as many mortgages for investors as they did for first home-buyers over the past year, Reserve Bank figures show.

Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler yesterday delivered the 25 basis points cut to the official cash rate down to 3 per cent that the markets had expected and foreshadowed more to come.

Banks reduce mortgage rates on the back of Reserve's announcement - and it's likely the OCR will fall further.

Wheeler struck the right note in this morning's official cash rate announcement: appropriately dovish but not alarmist.

NZIER's monetary policy shadow board favours a cut to the official cash rate of 25 basis points to 3 per cent tomorrow.

Inflation remained low in the June quarter, but not quite as low in Auckland as in the country as a whole.