New Zealand Governor Warns Misinformation Can Weaken Inflation Policy

Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Anna Breman warned that misinformation can weaken monetary policy in an October 2026 Bank for International Settlements paper, raising concerns about inflation expectations.

The remarks came from a June 26 monetary policy panel in Basel, Switzerland. The October 2026 publication contains remarks by central bank governors from Canada, Türkiye, New Zealand and Norway. The assessments reflect what the governors said in June.

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem chaired a conference session on international competition and the economy before joining the monetary policy panel.

The governors’ panel was the final session of the June 26 conference. Pablo Hernández de Cos of the Bank for International Settlements moderated it.

Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye Governor Fatih Karahan was one of four governors on the monetary policy panel.

The conference program placed the panel after sessions on inflation, global markets, digital innovation and international competition.

Breman focused on public trust. She warned that misinformation could distort people’s economic beliefs and make monetary policy less effective. She also said evidence that central bank communication directly changes inflation expectations remains mixed and called for more research on reaching the public.

The wider June conference included research on cross-border payments involving banks, fintech firms and stablecoins. A separate presentation examined digital innovation using evidence from Cardano staking pools. Those presentations were distinct from the governors’ monetary policy panel, whose remarks appear in the October collection.

A fourth conference paper is due for release later as BIS Working Paper No. 1387.