Reserve Bank holds OCR, warns risks remain

The Reserve Bank says employment may have reached the ‘‘maximum sustainable level’’, but interest rates will stay low until at least 2020. Yesterday Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr left the benchmark official cash rate (OCR) unchanged at 1.75 per cent. ‘‘We expect to keep the OCR at this level through 2019 and into 2020.’’ Previously the central bank has said the next move in interest rates could be either up or down and while recent economic growth and employment figures are stronger than expected, Orr maintained that there were risks to the economy.