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The official cash rate has fallen, but how quickly can that lead to a rising economy? File photo. Photo: RNZ A Reserve Bank decision to cut the official cash rate by 50 basis points might be good news for home loan borrowers but it is likely to be months before it has a real impact on the economy. The OCR has been cut to 4.75 percent. That is still above what the Reserve Bank would consider a "neutral" interest rate. Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen said the Reserve Bank "seemed to have realised" that the economy was weaker and did not require as much interest rate restraint, and that quicker cuts were needed to normalise interest rates. "A clear, if only implied, admission that the Reserve Bank may have been too slow to act. It still could be too far behind, if inflation is a...

Almost 70,000 New Zealanders said they worked 60 hours a week. File photo. Photo: 123RF It's time for New Zealanders to work fewer hours, one academic says - as the Census reveals we work less than we used to. Census data shows that New Zealanders work, on average, 37.2 hours per week. That is down from 38.1 hours in 2013, and roughly the same as the last census. But 297 people said they worked 168 hours a week - that is, every hour of the day. Work is defined as for pay, profit or payment in kind, or contributing directly the operation of a business, farm or professional practice operated by a relative, including a job or business that the person was temporarily absent from. In 2018, 273 people said they worked all the time, but in 2013 it was 474. There were a total of 2.6 million peo...

Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr was paid $804,802 in the 2024 year, down from $853,810 a year earlier. Photo: RNZ The Reserve Bank will pay its first dividend to the government in three years - in part because of the higher interest rates of the past year. The bank said in its most recent annual report that it would pay a $597 million dividend. The dividend is decided by determining the bank's "target capital level" the minimum amount of capital it needs to hold to cover financial risks. Money it makes in a year beyond that can be paid in a dividend. This year, the TCL was $4.1b. Gareth Kiernan, chief forecaster at Infometrics, said a higher official cash rate increased the bank's net interest income. When the OCR is higher, the bank charges borrowers more for their loans, but pays mor...