Joyce says rein in Reserve Bank

Stuff reports:

Former finance minister Steven Joyce has thrown his weight behind calls for the Government to rein in the Reserve Bank.

Joyce pushed back against criticism from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern that such interventions were economically reckless and said the Government had a right to let the Reserve Bank know when it was acting out of turn.

“It’s not true the Reserve Bank is the sole arbiter of economic policy in New Zealand,” Joyce said.

He said the Government should instead help the bank prop up economic growth by easing up on minimum wage increases and things like additional sick leave.

The independence of the Reserve Bank is mainly around the setting of interest rates, not around everything it does.