India, May 22 -- New Zealand's central bank maintained its benchmark rate for the seventh consecutive session and signaled a delay in rate cuts as services inflation is receding slowly.
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, led by Governor Adrian Orr, decided to hold the Official Cash Rate at 5.50 percent.
The MPC observed that inflation is likely to return to within the 1 to 3 percent target range by the end of 2024 and components of domestic services inflation persist.
"The Committee agreed that monetary policy needs to remain restrictive to ensure inflation returns to target within a reasonable timeframe," the bank added.
The welcome decline in inflation partly reflects lower inflation for goods and servic...