VIEW: Westpac note that "at every utterance....>

RBNZ: VIEW: Westpac note that "at every utterance from the Reserve Bank, we

learn more about how the new dual mandate and Governor are going to impact

interest rates and the economy. Today's MPS reinforces our impression that the

"new" Reserve Bank is more dovish than the old. We suspect that the tone of

today's MPS is going to become a theme. Over the coming year, we expect the

general tone of economic data to improve due to the Government's spending binge

and the recent RBNZ-induced drop in mortgage rates that will stimulate housing

market. Consequently, we expect core inflation to gradually trend higher. Yet we

remain very comfortable forecasting no OCR hike until mid-2020. At each Monetary

Policy Statement and OCR Review, we expect that the RBNZ will remain sanguine in

spite of strengthening data. That could surprise financial markets. We expect

the shift to a committee structure for OCR decisions will reinforce this

behavioural change from the Reserve Bank."