The Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Committee said it is resolute in its commitment to ensure consumer price inflation returns to within the 1 percent to 3 percent target range.
"A larger and earlier increase in the OCR reduces the risk of inflation becoming persistent, while also providing more policy flexibility ahead in light of the highly uncertain global economic environment," said a statement of the committee.
Wednesday's rise follows a similar rise by 0.5 percentage points to 1.5 percent in April, after rising by 0.25 in February, and the same amount in November and October last year.
Inflation hit 6.9 percent in April, the largest movement in New Zealand since June 1990.
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