By Lucy Craymer
WELLINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - New Zealand's top central banker said on Wednesday that there was no preset course for monetary policy and that adjustments would be made if the outlook for inflation
changes.
New Zealand's central bank cut the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.25% at the end of November and signaled an end to the easing cycle. It is forecasting that the cash rate will remain on hold over the coming year.
Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Anna Breman, who stepped into the role last week, told reporters that the monetary policy committee was keeping a close watch on all incoming data including inflation and growth numbers.
"I'd like to stress that is no present course for monetary policy," she said.
"It's really important to see that we have a forward-looking policy rate path that's being published... but it's also important to stress that, of course, if circumstances change, if we get new data that shows that the economy and inflation is going in a different direction from what we expected, we will adjust the monetary policy," she added.
Third-quarter inflation in New Zealand was at 3.0%, which is at the top of the central bank's target band of 1% to 3%. The central bank has previously said it expects inflation to come down due to spare capacity in the economy.
Breman said that the central bank "would maintain a laser focus on our core mandate" of inflation.
(Reporting by Lucy Craymer in Wellington and Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Leslie Adler and Cynthia Osterman)
