ASB Bank chief economist Nick Tuffley said the Reserve Bank was widely expected to leave the OCR on hold, and offer up a balanced economic assessment and continue to emphasise interest rates were likely to remain low for a considerable period.
''With changes to the monetary policy framework pending and with Adrian Orr set to start as governor in March, the Reserve Bank is expected to keep changes to a minimum,'' Mr Tuffley said.
The brighter global outlook and widespread number of supports to the domestic economy should keep the tone of the policy assessment reasonably upbeat, with a solid outlook for domestic economic activity depicted in the published forecasts, he said.
''The published forecasts should depict a solid outlook for economic outlook,'' he said.
The low inflation starting point and higher than expected New Zealand dollar could result in marginal downward tweaks in the published OCR profile.
However, given pending changes in the monetary policy framework, financial markets ''should tread cautiously'' on reading too much into any tweaks, Mr Tuffley said.
Mr Orr is set to take up the Reserve Bank reins in March, and with a new policy targets agreement (PTA) yet to be signed and a monetary policy review under way, there was little need for the Reserve Bank to offer anything more than an update on where it sees inflationary pressure heading, Mr Tuffley said.
The MPS should provide a new set of forecasts and adjustments are expected because neither the currency nor inflation were where the central bank was expecting back in November, BusinessDesk reported.
Statistics NZ had recalculated its measure of gross domestic product for the 2016 and 2017 March years.
The Reserve Bank will also have to consider the deflationary impact of free first-year tertiary education.
Fourth-quarter inflation of 0.1% was a third of the pace the bank forecast in November and the annual rate slipped back to 1.6%, a bigger drop than it expected.
The November MPS did not price in a 25 basis point hike until March 2020 and for that reason the Reserve Bank could be overtaken by the Federal Reserve this year, after chairwoman Janet Yellen repeated there would be gradual increases in the federal funds rate, currently in a target range of 1.25% to 1.50%.
The trade-weighted index was recently at 75.02, above the 73.5 level that the Reserve Bank projected for the first quarter.
ANZ New Zealand senior economist Phil Borkin said in a note that weaker inflation, the higher kiwi and the impact of the Government's tertiary education policies ''are likely to see headline inflation retreat towards the lower end of the target band once again.''
''The Reserve Bank will be mindful of the potential implications of this for the formation of inflation expectations,'' he said.
The ANZ Roy Morgan consumer confidence survey published last week showed Kiwis wound back their expectations for inflation in the next two years.
The survey showed a net 3.2% general increase in prices is expected, down from a 3.5% rise seen in the previous month's survey. National house price expectations rose to 2.9% from 2.4%.
- Additional reporting by BusinessDesk
