The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has prepared a set of unconventional monetary policy tools ready to be deployed in the event of the policy rate hitting zero.

The central bank has been working on how to deploy tools including forward guidance, negative rates, interest rate swaps, asset purchases, foreign exchange interventions and collateralised long-term loans to banks.

In remarks today (March 10), governor Adrian Orr said the central bank does not currently need to use additional tools, but