The Central Bank of New Zealand is taking additional steps to contain high inflation.
The key interest rate will be increased by a further 0.25 percentage points to 0.75 percent.
The central bank announced this on Wednesday after its interest rate meeting in Wellington.
It is the second increase in a row that many analysts expected.
For the future, the monetary authorities announced further rate hikes at a faster pace.
Federal Reserve Chairman Adrian Orr said that they are still pursuing a moderate tightening course for the time being.
One reason for the rather cautious approach is the high debt of many households, which would suffer from rapidly and sharply rising interest rates.
With the interest rate hikes, the central bank is fighting against inflation in the country, which is currently almost five percent, well above the central bank's target corridor of one to three percent.
In addition, there is the good condition of the labor market, which means that rising wages and thus additional inflation can be expected.
Opening to tourists from 2022
After more than two years of corona-related restrictions, New Zealand wants to receive foreign tourists again from 2022. From April 30, fully vaccinated travelers could gradually return to the country, said the minister for containment of the corona pandemic, Chris Hipkins, on Wednesday: "Closing our border was one of the first steps to protect our country from Covid-19 to protect. And it will be the last thing we open. "
With a few exceptions, since March 2020 only citizens and people residing in the Pacific state have been allowed to enter New Zealand. However, there is still a pandemic with rising corona cases in Europe and other regions of the world, emphasized Hipkins: "So we have to be very careful with opening the border." So even fully vaccinated people would have to be tested and go to a seven-day state after their arrival Enter quarantine. For travelers from risk areas, there is also a three-day domestic isolation. Further provisions, such as entry according to visa categories, would still have to be worked out.
New Zealand is seen worldwide as a model country in the fight against the virus.
It has long pursued a so-called zero covid strategy.
In the end, however, the government of the island state had to admit that this strategy can hardly be implemented with the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.
So far, around 10,200 cases of infection have been confirmed in the country, 40 people have died in connection with Covid-19.
Around 84 percent of the five million inhabitants have so far been fully vaccinated against the corona virus.