Manufacturing, spending, OCR this week

Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler was expected to leave the Official Cash Rate unchanged this morning. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The state of manufacturing, our spending habits and interest rates come under the spotlight this week.

Most eyes will be on the Reserve Bank's OCR announcement and Monetary Policy Statement on Thursday but a range of date from from Statistics NZ is due out throughout the week.

So where to for interest rates?

Most economists expect the Reserve Bank to cut rates later this year, although few expect a move this week when Governor Graeme Wheeler delivers his first full monetary policy statement of the year.

ANZ, ASB and Westpac are all picking two more cuts this year, most probably beginning in June.

On Tuesday, Stats NZ will release its economic survey of manufacturing. This will show how the manufacturing sector is faring in the general economic conditions.

On Wednesday, electronic card transactions data comes out, showing spending trends. This will show the number and value of electronic card transactions with New Zealand-based merchants.

Data will include transactions using debit or eftpos, credit and charge cards. Transactions by overseas cardholders in New Zealand are included although transactions by New Zealand cardholders overseas are excluded.