This year is set to be harder than last year for many New Zealanders

The Reserve Bank has opted to keep the Official Cash Rate unchanged at 5.5 percent -- in line with most economists' expectations.

It isn't expected to cut the OCR for a while -- possibly not until the middle of next year.

Westpac Senior Economist Kelly Eckhold says some households will be finding it harder to pay their bills.

He says the unemployment rate's at four percent, which is not particularly high by New Zealand standards, but it will probably reach about five during the year.