There's some defence of the Reserve Bank's pandemic response - after a new report was released.

The independent report into its Covid monetary policy finds it began well, with swift OCR cuts, but was slow to respond when the economy bounced back.

Former Reserve Bank economist Michael Reddell says most private sector forecasts were similar to the RBNZ's incorrect predictions. 

He says that doesn't entirely absolve the bank.

"The difference, of course, is that the private sector forecasters weren't responsible for setting monetary policy - the Reserve Bank MPC was."

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