© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Two people walk towards the entrance of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand located in the New Zealand capital city of Wellington, March 22, 2016. REUTERS/Rebecca Howard/File Photo/File Photo

By Lucy Craymer

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Reserve Bank of New Zealand Deputy Governor Christian Hawkesby said on Monday that policymakers had “certainly considered 25 or 75” basis point increases before ultimately deciding to raise the cash rate by 50 basis points (bps).

Hawkesby told Reuters in a phone interview that if the committee thought that market pricing was wrong and they need to shift it they would consider a larger move than 50 bps.

“At the meeting last week, we sort of reflected that actually market pricing for the OCR (official cash rate) over the period ahead was reasonably similar to what we were putting out in our OCR projections,” he said.

New Zealand’s central bank on Wednesday delivered its seventh straight interest rate hike and signaled a more hawkish tightening path over coming months to rein in stubbornly high inflation.