That caused the dollar to rise, exactly what export business did not want, he said.
Mr McIntyre was hoping new Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler would have indicated that cutting the OCR was on the horizon.
But Mr Wheeler could have been releasing a statement made previously by his predecessor, Alan Bollard.
"For now, it remains appropriate for the OCR to be held at 2.5%," Mr Wheeler said in his first announcement as governor.
Domestically, GDP continued to expand at a modest pace.
Housing market activity was increasing as expected and repairs and reconstruction in Canterbury were boosting the construction sector.
"Offsetting this, fiscal consolidation is constraining demand growth and the high New Zealand dollar is undermining export earnings and encouraging substitution towards imported goods and services."
While annual inflation had fallen to 0.8%, the bank continued to expect inflation to head back towards the middle of the target range, Mr Wheeler said.
Mr McIntyre said the central bank had started talking about two parts of the economy: Auckland and Christchurch, where half the population lived, and the rest of the country.
There was concern that lowering interest rates would mean fuelling another housing boom in Auckland instead of encouraging the "real economy" of business growth.
"This latest announcement shows what a blunt instrument the OCR is. It is a handbrake on business. We want something for the 21st century, not the 16th-century club that it is."
A policy think-tank should be established to work through the issues surrounding the formation of New Zealand's monetary policy.
There was room for tax incentives for small and medium-sized businesses to encourage innovation, research and development because from those would come job growth, he said.
ANZ senior economist Mark Smith said the market was looking for "dovish nuances" from Mr Wheeler. If anything, the assessment surprised the other way.
"We consider the paring back in market pricing for rate cuts and the modest New Zealand dollar lift to be a positioning squeeze.
"The market was simply looking too much for signals and trying to play the man as opposed to the ball."
The ANZ scenario for interest was an increase rather than a cut, he said. Cutting the OCR in the middle of rebuilding a city was a big ask. A rate cut could not be ruled out but there remained a high hurdle to jump.
ANZ expected an extended period on the sidelines with the OCR on hold until 2014, he said.
The domestic rebuild momentum would be balanced by what he considered would remain a turbulent international environment and a dichotomised performance out of the local labour market.
