On Tuesday ASB and ANZ joined Westpac in predicting that the official cash rate would be dropped below zero early in 2021. Westpac was the first to formally predict a negative OCR. Earlier this year the Reserve Bank slashed the OCR by 75 basis points to 0.25%, and promised it would stay there for at least 12 months. It also warned banks to have their systems operationally ready for a negative OCR by December this year. ASB has predicted that in April 2021 the Reserve Bank would slash the OCR by another 75 points to 0.5%.

Source: Otago Daily Times August 18, 2020 03:00 UTC