NZ Opposition Doesn’t Want RBNZ’s Orr Reappointed for Five Years
LIKE PIERRE POLIEVRE IN CANADA
Tracy Withers
Mon, October 17, 2022
(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand’s main opposition National Party doesn’t want the government to reappoint Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr for another five-year term, preferring a 12-month extension until after the 2023 election.
That would mean the next governor could be appointed by a new government rather than by the current administration, National Party Leader Christopher Luxon suggested in an interview with NewstalkZB radio on Tuesday. Orr’s first term expires in March 2023.
National has been critical of the RBNZ’s quantitative easing program during the Covid-19 pandemic, which it says over-stimulated the economy and contributed to surging inflation and a sharp increase in borrowing costs. National is currently ahead of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party in opinion polls.
Asked if he would be unhappy to become prime minister with Orr in place for another five years, Luxon said: “Yes we would.”
He said his advice to Finance Minister Grant Robertson would be to extend Orr’s term by just 12 months, citing the precedent of the last time a governor’s term came due close to an election.
In 2017, the then National government named deputy RBNZ governor Grant Spencer to a six-month caretaker role as chief when Graeme Wheeler’s term ended just days after an election. The new Labour-led government then appointed Orr, who started in March 2018.
Luxon told NewstalkZB that he remains committed to seeking a comprehensive review of what happened with monetary policy during the pandemic, saying such an examination is “entirely appropriate.”
He has said he would remove the RBNZ’s dual mandate and return its focus to inflation fighting if National takes power.
Tracy Withers
Mon, October 17, 2022
(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand’s main opposition National Party doesn’t want the government to reappoint Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr for another five-year term, preferring a 12-month extension until after the 2023 election.
That would mean the next governor could be appointed by a new government rather than by the current administration, National Party Leader Christopher Luxon suggested in an interview with NewstalkZB radio on Tuesday. Orr’s first term expires in March 2023.
National has been critical of the RBNZ’s quantitative easing program during the Covid-19 pandemic, which it says over-stimulated the economy and contributed to surging inflation and a sharp increase in borrowing costs. National is currently ahead of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party in opinion polls.
Asked if he would be unhappy to become prime minister with Orr in place for another five years, Luxon said: “Yes we would.”
He said his advice to Finance Minister Grant Robertson would be to extend Orr’s term by just 12 months, citing the precedent of the last time a governor’s term came due close to an election.
In 2017, the then National government named deputy RBNZ governor Grant Spencer to a six-month caretaker role as chief when Graeme Wheeler’s term ended just days after an election. The new Labour-led government then appointed Orr, who started in March 2018.
Luxon told NewstalkZB that he remains committed to seeking a comprehensive review of what happened with monetary policy during the pandemic, saying such an examination is “entirely appropriate.”
He has said he would remove the RBNZ’s dual mandate and return its focus to inflation fighting if National takes power.
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