Reserve bank will not find any reason in the new figures to cut rates next month, but the unexpected lower rate should prevent an increase

A new year and we are straight back into talk of inflation. But while the November inflation figures released on Wednesday were lower than expected, it is unlikely to do much to affect the outlook for interest rates.

One of the impacts of having more of something is that each individual piece is less valuable, and so it is with inflation stats. Last year the Bureau of Statistics moved from putting out the official consumer price index figures every quarter to every month. And while that does provide us with more information, it means that each release is given less importance than used to be the case when we had to wait three months for each one.

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