What moves the New Zealand dollar
The New Zealand dollar is set against the rest by one bank, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), and by the things that bank has to react to. Here is the rate it has set, what it is aiming at, the releases that move this currency and what is on the calendar this week.
Rate and calendar as the research last recorded them, Wed Sep 23, 2026, 3:14pm.
In short
- Central bank
- Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ)
- Policy rate
- 2.75%
- Next meeting
- not published
- What the bank targets
- Inflation between 1 and 3%, aiming for 2%
The three things that move it
- 1Risk appetite, for the same reasons as the Australian dollar, usually a step more violently.
- 2Dairy prices, New Zealand's largest export, and the auctions that set them.
- 3The Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which has moved earlier and harder than most of the others in past cycles.
Tied to risk appetite and to what New Zealand exports, dairy first.
On the calendar this week
Nothing of the highest impact for the NZD this week. On weeks like that the currency drifts on the rate gap and the risk mood instead.
Times in Amsterdam. The whole week for all eight is on the calendar page.
The other seven
A currency is only strong or weak against another one, so the page next door matters as much as this one.
- USD US dollar
- EUR Euro
- JPY Japanese yen
- GBP British pound
- CHF Swiss franc
- AUD Australian dollar
- CAD Canadian dollar
What the rate gap between two of them pays is on the rate differentials page, and how a pair is scored from two currencies is on the fundamental bias page.
Questions about the New Zealand dollar
What moves the New Zealand dollar?
What the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) does and is expected to do, the releases that bank steers on, the mood of the wider market, and anything political big enough to be priced. A currency only moves against another one, so the same questions apply to the other side of the pair.
Which central bank sets the NZD rate, and what is it aiming at?
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ). Its target: inflation between 1 and 3%, aiming for 2%. A release matters most when it speaks to that target.
Where can I see the current NZD policy rate?
At the top of this page, next to the next scheduled meeting, and next to the other seven on our rate differentials page. It follows the research, so a decision shows up on the day it is made. All eight rates
Do you publish a NZD forecast?
No. We publish a reading of now: how the currency scores against the other seven today and why, rewritten when the news changes. Nobody here will tell you where a currency will be next month. How past calls turned out