Christopher Luxon and Neil Quigley. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi / Samuel Rillstone
The prime minister says he has confidence in the management of the Reserve Bank, in spite of the departure of the bank's governor and chairperson within six months of each other.
Neil Quigley resigned as chair after months of scrutiny of his handling of Adrian Orr's resignation as governor back in March.
He refused to give details about Orr's departure, which documents released through Official Information Act requests later revealed to be due to a disagreement with the board over funding.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Morning Report that Quigley did the right thing.
"I think it would've been more damaging if action hadn't been taken and the chair hadn't stepped down, so I think from my point of view, the Reserve Bank is a very robust body, it's not unusual to have a chair and a CEO resign at the same time, it happens in the business world all the time."
Asked about the reputational damage to the Reserve Bank, Luxon said he had confidence in the bank's strong experience in management.
"I think the chair leaving was a good call because it avoided any risk of any reputational damage to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
"I think that… it's got to the right decision in the end."
Regional development minister Shane Jones told Morning Report the Reserve Bank should have made bigger interest rate cuts - as much as 75 basis points.
"I was surprised that monetary policy has, has, maintained such a strong contractionary, contractionary stance… they're not a source of papal divine authority."
But he said the independent central bank bigger things to worry about than politicians commenting on their decisions.
"There's all sorts of murk around why the last governor disappeared, so I'm the least of their problems."
In a brief statement from Finance Minister Nicola Willis on Friday evening, she thankedQuigley for his 15 years of service on the board, nine of them as chair.
"Mr Quigley has decided that having overseen a number of key workstreams for the Bank, now is the appropriate time for him to hand over to a new Chair," Willis said. "He leaves the bank well-positioned for the future. I thank him for his service and wish him well for the future."
Speaking to RNZ shortly after, Willis said Quigley tendered his resignation following a discussion with her earlier on Friday about the "ongoing criticism" of the board's handling of information surrounding Orr's departure on 5 March.
"My concern was that the bank's reputation was being impacted. He agreed with me that that was a serious matter," Willis told RNZ. "If he had not offered his resignation, I would have asked him for it."
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