
Reserve Bank cuts OCR again
Photo: ODT files
The Reserve Bank cut its benchmark rate to its lowest in more than two years.
The Official Cash Rate was lowered 25 basis points to 3.25 percent, as expected.
The central bank says there's much uncertainty and future rate moves will depend on the pick up in the economy, inflation pressures and global trade tensions.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


NZ Herald
8 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Kiwibank cuts home loan and deposit rates
Kiwibank has joined the major banks in lowering its home loan and term deposit rates following the Official Cash Rate cut over a week ago. Another major bank has cut both its home loan and deposit rates in the wake of the Official Cash Rate drop last month. Kiwibank's six-month fixed home loan special and standard rates have been cut by 20 basis points to 5.29% and 6.19% respectively. Its one-year fixed special and standard


NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
Refixing the mortgage? Should you float or fix – and for how long?
Last week's Official Cash Rate (OCR) cut sparked another cycle of banks dropping mortgage rates. But for homeowners due to refix soon, is now a good time to grab those fixed rates? Cameron Marcroft, senior adviser and director at Loan Market, told the Herald it felt like we were nearing


Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Southland woman's $800k tax evasion
Debra Monteith. Photo: ODT Files A Southland woman providing school lunches has been sentenced to home detention after failing to pay more than $800,000 in tax through her catering company. Debra Lee Monteith was sentenced in the Invercargill District Court to 11 months home detention for failing to account for PAYE between March 2021 and February 2024, Inland Revenue said in a statement. Monteith's company, Lee 19, was primarily involved in food catering including the Ministry of Education's Ka Ora, Ka Ako Healthy School lunches and catering at the Alliance Lorneville meat processing plant. In 2019, Lee 19 registered as an employer and began paying its workers. The next year several employees phoned Inland Revenue stating their KiwiSaver deductions were not being paid. No PAYE returns were filed until 2020 when returns for seven periods were returned all at once with $82,894.86 immediately due and payable. Monteith entered into an instalment arrangement in 2020 for the debt, but this was cancelled in 2022 because of missed payments. Then the company stopped paying PAYE entirely from March 2021 until February 2024. The PAYE not accounted for over this period totalled $801,928.79. Monteith told Inland Revenue the PAYE was used to keep the company afloat and pay for food costs. Her personal expenses were paid out of the company's finances and her groceries were taken from the company's pantry. Monteith benefitted by just over $300,000 between 2020 and 2024, although she wasn't otherwise taking a salary from the company. Lee 19 also applied for and received more than $780,000 in COVID-19 support money from various schemes. The company, at Monteith's direction, was receiving significant taxpayer support while at the same time not meeting its own tax obligations. In March 2024, Lee 19 was placed into liquidation. Monteith, who ran four other companies since the late 1980s, was made bankrupt in 2013. - APL