Photo: RNZ
The Reserve Bank has come in for criticism over a sharp increase in staff numbers - but economists say whether it has the right number of people is not a straightforward question to answer.
The number of full-time equivalent employees has increased from 255 in 2018 to 641 in September 2024.
It fielded an Official Information Act request last year seeking information about staff members whose main responsibilities were related to the environment, sustainability, climate change, culture, equality, diversity, inclusion, art and heritage.
This revealed about 11 staff in these roles, not all of whom were full-time.
That prompted for Reserve Bank staffer economist Michael Reddell to tweet: "Fiscal restraint needs to come to the RB."
The bank has one staff member earning between $800,001 and $810,000 a year, four earning between $480,001 and $620,000 a year, four earning $400,001 to $480,000 a year and just over 400 earning between $100,000 and $400,000.
The bank said it was focused on building capability and capacity to ensure its workforce was fit for the future.
"We are now in the final year of our five-year funding agreement.
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"This agreement provides the basis for our funding a range of activities over a five-year period to fulfill our kaitiakitanga responsibilities. The 2020-25 funding agreement substantially increased the Reserve Bank's funding, the rationale for which was outlined in our funding proposal. The current agreement included allowance for necessary catch-up investment in our people and supporting infrastructure capabilities after a long period of relatively low expenditure. This investment will enable us to respond and adapt more readily to our changing environment."
The spokesperson said its activities during the five-year period were focused on building its capabilities and addressing critical risks to delivering its mandate.
"This includes responding to areas that require investment and establishing an enduring operating model that will help us enable the economic wellbeing and prosperity of all New Zealanders.
"This increase in staffing reflects our commitment to fulfilling a significant work programme, which includes implementing legislative changes …enhancing digital resilience, strengthening prudential supervision, managing cash and payment systems, and meeting the formal expectations of stakeholders."
Brad Olsen, Infometrics chief executive, said it was "very popular" to say the Reserve Bank had too many people.
"In some cases it's possibly true but looking at totals overall misconstrues it a touch. The Reserve Bank has been given more powers and stuff to do … some of that work is fundamentally different to what it was doing five or ten years ago."
But he said a couple of years ago the bank seemed to have a "fairly solid" focus on climate change and not enough on inflation "because it got away from us for too long".
"The Reserve Bank had to make moves that amplified the economic cycle. A view at the time I probably held was that the Reserve Bank had either inadvertently or by other omission had taken its eye off the ball of inflation at the expense of other things. I'm not saying other things are not important but the role of the Reserve Bank is to keep inflation under control and they failed."
Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub said it was "more complicated than small good, big bad".
"To my mind its more about if the hiring has been in areas of increased regulatory activity, and if the additional resourcing has been effective. Mindless headcounting, without consideration for the quantity and quality of work, output or outcome, is moronic. "
