Monetary Policy Challenge Success

Posted on July 11, 2016

For the second year in a row, a team from Macleans College has made it to the National Final of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s Monetary Policy Competition.

The team made up of Benjamin Payne (Snell), Catherin Chen (Batten), Elisa Martin Moses (Hillary), Khorshed Tarapore (Mansfield) and Zachary Wong (Batten) will present at the National Final in Wellington in late July with travel expenses covered by the Reserve Bank. They will also receive prizes worth $100 each.

To qualify for the National Final the team made a 20 minute presentation to the Reserve Bank via Skype. The first part consisted of a 10 minute PowerPoint that made a decision on what the Official Cash Rate (OCR) should be set at by analysing the state of the New Zealand economy. This was then followed by a 10 minute question and answer session which tested the student’s understanding of economics and monetary policy. This included a question which asked the team to explain how you could evaluate whether the New Zealand Dollar is overvalued and to explain why the Reserve Bank may be concerned about the state of the New Zealand housing market.

Monetary Policy
Benjamin Payne, Khorshed Tarapore, Elisa Martin Moses, Catherin Chen and Zachary Wong.

The Reserve Bank determines the direction of monetary policy in New Zealand through setting the OCR. The team says that everyone is impacted by monetary policy through how the OCR impacts the cost of borrowing and the return on savings. They believe it is an essential tool for allowing economic growth in New Zealand to be sustainably managed.