RBNZ Surprised by Persistent Inflation, Assistant Governor Says.

(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand's central bank has been surprised by the strength of inflation, which has boosted price expectations and required a more aggressive interest-rate response, Assistant Governor Karen Silk said. "What we have seen is actual inflation continue to surprise on the upside, but more importantly inflation expectations have moved higher as well", Silk said in an interview with Bloomberg Monday in Wellington. Asked if the RBNZ could stop short of taking the OCR to 5.5%, Silk said the bank would need to see inflation receding and a subsequent decline in inflation expectations. [Extracted from the article]