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New Zealand’s foreign minister has publicly reprimanded Anna Breman, the central bank governor, after she signed a letter of support for Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell alongside other global reserve bank leaders.
Breman, the Swedish banker who took over as head of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in December, co-signed the letter this week in which global central bankers declared their “full solidarity” with Powell after US prosecutors announced a criminal investigation into the Fed chair.
The probe, which centres on cost overruns in a $2.5bn renovation of the Fed’s headquarters, marked a sharp escalation of President Donald Trump’s attacks on the US central bank, which he has sought to pressure into slashing interest rates.
Winston Peters, New Zealand’s outspoken foreign minister, rebuked Breman on Wednesday for signing the statement. Other signatories included European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde, Andrew Bailey of the Bank of England and Michele Bullock, head of the Reserve Bank of Australia.
“The RBNZ has no role, nor should it involve itself, in US domestic politics. We remind the Governor to stay in her New Zealand lane and stick to domestic monetary policy,” Peters wrote on social media platform X.
“That would have been the advice of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade if the Governor had sought its advice, which she did not,” he added.
The RBNZ was not immediately available to comment on Peters’ statement.
A spokesperson for New Zealand’s finance minister Nicola Willis, who selected Breman in September from a field of 300 candidates, declined to comment. Breman had previously served as first deputy governor of the Sveriges Riksbank in Sweden since 2019.
Brad Olsen, principal economist at consultancy Infometrics, said that central bank independence was “sacrosanct” in New Zealand. In 1989, the country passed legislation to make its central bank more autonomous and accountable for price stability,
“I would have been disappointed if our [central bank] hadn’t signed,” said Olsen, who noted that Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, had also expressed support for Powell and the Fed’s independence.
“It should be applauded,” Olsen said of the letter, which he said expressed uncontroversial support for the principle of central bank independence, rather than a political statement.
Breman’s appointment followed a period of upheaval at New Zealand’s central bank after her predecessor Adrian Orr stood down over an abrasive disagreement with the government over its budget.
Olsen said that the spat over the Powell letter would not damage Breman’s standing. “Things have turned a page with the new governor,” he said.
