The debate over the RBNZ\u2019s mandate<\/p>\n
The clearest monetary policy difference between the blocs is the central bank\u2019s mandate. National would keep the RBNZ\u2019s sole price-stability objective, while Labour would restore the dual mandate of price stability and maximum sustainable employment.<\/p>\n
In a pre-election bulletin<\/a>, Kelly Eckhold (pictured), Westpac<\/a> chief economist, said a return to the dual mandate \u201ccould mean that the RBNZ<\/a> is prepared to accommodate a slower return of inflation to target to reduce the impact on employment\u201d.<\/p>\n Westpac says fiscal, labour, migration, and energy policy may have the larger near-term influence, however. Spending restraint under a right-leaning government would cool demand, while a larger spending programme on the left would heat it.<\/p>\n Housing and tax: where the blocs differ<\/p>\n Westpac sees two likely outcomes. The first is a returned National-led coalition, with ACT and New Zealand First holding more sway. National has ruled out new tax cuts next term and plans to widen First Home Loan access to 5% deposits, alongside planning reform aimed at freeing up land. ACT would push for deeper spending cuts, while New Zealand First pairs a more interventionist approach with selective tax relief, such as a 20% company tax rate for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).<\/p>\n The second is a Labour-Green government backed by the Opportunity Party<\/a>. Labour proposes a 28% capital gains tax<\/a> on gains accruing after 1 July 2027 from investment residential and commercial property, with exemptions, plus 6,000 additional state houses. The Greens\u2019 platform includes a 2% annual cap on rent rises, though Labour has ruled out supporting the Greens\u2019 tax policies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The debate over the RBNZ\u2019s mandate The clearest monetary policy difference between the blocs is the central bank\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[315679,111,43,139,69,315678,315680],"class_list":["post-643933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-capital-gains-tax-nz","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-nz-election-2026","tag-rbnz-dual-mandate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}