19 June 2025 – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua hosted a research conference on 6-7 March 2025 commemorating “35 Years of Flexible Inflation Targeting – Challenges and Opportunities”.
This Bulletin summarises the key themes and insights that emerged during the conference.
The conference marked a significant historical milestone. Reflecting on the decades leading to inflation targeting, Governor Christian Hawkesby described how New Zealand experienced high and volatile inflation when monetary policy was set under the direction of the Government, not an independent central bank.
Reforms undertaken from 1988 set out, in the words of the then Minister of Finance, Roger Douglas, to “ensure that future politicians don’t interfere with the primary objective of the Reserve Bank”.
In March 1990, when the Minister of Finance and the Reserve Bank Governor signed the first Policy Targets Agreement (PTA), the Reserve Bank of New Zealand became the first central bank to have a numerical target for inflation specified in its monetary policy mandate. (ref. https://govt.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=bd316aa7ee4f5679c56377819&id=f7a74960f1&e=f3c68946f8 )
Against this backdrop, 35 years after the first PTA, the research conference aimed to understand the inflation targeting experience across central banks, the challenges, and the opportunities to refine monetary policy frameworks and strategies in the post-pandemic world.
Read the Bulletin: https://govt.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=bd316aa7ee4f5679c56377819&id=78cd896bea&e=f3c68946f8
