When the Facts Change

At Large with Toby Manhire: Is the Reserve Bank’s blunt tool just too blunt?

Toby Manhire speaks to Bernard Hickey about the Reserve Bank’s inflation target and the case to reform monetary policy, and Liam Rātana about the latest chapter in RNZ’s NZ Wars series.

16 Jul 2026

At Large with Toby Manhire: Is the Reserve Bank’s blunt tool just too blunt?

More about the episode

Since 1990 the Reserve Bank has been tasked with taming inflation independently from the government of the day. But is the tool it uses today, the official cash rate, with its focus on hitting an inflation rate of 1%-3%, causing more pain that it’s alleviating? Bernard Hickey joins Toby to make the case. Plus, in How Good, Liam Rātana on NZ Wars: Stories of Waerenga-a-Hika. Follow At Large with Toby Manhire now on ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ or wherever you get your podcasts.