The Reserve Bank going to review its monetary policy on Thursday is unlikely to change the official cash rates (OCR) by keeping them intact at 2.5 per cent, the lowest since last April. There is a wide-spread consensus in the market that Governor Alan Bollard would start hiking rates from April 2010.

Bollard had said before the last OCR review in October, "We see no urgency to begin withdrawing monetary policy stimulus and we expect to keep the OCR at the current level until the second half of 2010."

Media major Bloomberg, in its recent poll of 12 markets, claimed OCR at 3.25 per cent by the end of June. Westpac economist Michael Gordon added, "The largest upward revisions by far have been for Australia and Southeast Asia and China is expected to keep steaming along at well in excess of 8 per cent annual growth."

ASB economist Jane Turner added that the rising house prices would pay a key role while determining the monetary policy by the Reserve Bank Governor. She said that consumer spending is yet to register adequate growth rate in spite of high consumer confidence level across the nation.