Adrian Orr. Photo:
The Reserve Bank's board is being taken to task for its handling of the surprise resignation of former governor Adrian Orr.
Documents released under the Official Information Act showed Orr disagreed with the board over a large cut to the central bank's funding from the government.
A former senior staffer at the RBNZ and stern critic of the governor Michael Reddell said Orr was right to go if he felt strongly, but the board mishandled the whole issue.
"This is the first time we've learned of it," Reddell said.
"I mean, it's over three months now since Adrian [Orr] resigned, it's almost two months since the funding agreement for the bank was released.
"There's absolutely no reason why we shouldn't have been given this story at least two months ago."
The RBNZ's chair Neil Quigley declined to be interviewed.
Reddell said the RBNZ had become bloated under Orr and needed its spending cut.
The head of well-known economic consultancy Brad Olsen also felt the RBNZ could have handled Orr's departure better by being more upfront.
He said the reason for Orr's resignation was not surprising and was what many had suspected.
Brad Olsen. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
"Why did it take this long to confirm that expectation?" Olsen asked.
"There surely would have been no harm in discussing it at the time [of Orr's resignation]," he said.
"There was a clear difference of opinion, it didn't work out and therefore things needed to change."
Olsen said comments made by the RBNZ at the time of Orr's departure "doesn't really wash" with what he had seen in the documents released on Wednesday.
However, Olsen also said Orr was right to resign if he felt he could no longer do the job.
"I actually think that Adrian Orr made 100 percent the right move though," Olsen said.
"If he's not happy and wasn't as governor in his position with what was coming down, what he would have to sign up to and similar, then the right move was to step aside."
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