The governor of New Zealand's Reserve Bank, who saw inflation spike and subside on his watch through the COVID-19 era, has resigned.
Adrian Orr announced his departure on Wednesday half-way though his second term, after seven years in the top role.
"I leave the role with consumer price inflation at target, and an economy in a cyclical recovery following the long period of COVID-related disruption," he said.
"I'm incredibly proud of the RBNZ's people, our work and the impact of our mahi (work) on all New Zealanders."
The 62-year-old is yet to explain his decision to walk away, leaving RBNZ board chair to Neil Quigley to answer questions on his behalf.
"It's a personal decision that he's made ... he feels it's the right time for him to make that decision," he said.
Mr Quigley alluded to a behind-the-scenes spat with the government over funding for the bank, but said it was not behind Mr Orr's exit.
Mr Orr is a hugely divisive figure in New Zealand, blamed by many for exacerbating the boom-and-bust cycle of recent years.
The RBNZ slashed the official cash rate (OCR) from one to 0.25 per cent in March 2020 as the first lockdowns took hold, issuing guidance it would remain at that emergency low level for at least 12 months.
"We are doing nothing that any other central bank is not doing, we're very much strictly ballroom," Mr Orr said in late 2020.
Combined with a large-scale government bonds buying program and wage guarantees from the government, the stability of the low-rate environment saw a mass plunge on housing, with average prices jumping 45 per cent in two years.
Further down the line, with the OCR hiked to 5.5 per cent, New Zealand slumped into a major recession, with a contraction of two per cent between March and September last year.
Back in November 2022, with headline inflation at 7.3 per cent and an election due five months later, he was reappointed for a second five-year term to the opposition's fury.
At the time, Nicola Willis, as the National party's finance spokeswoman, called his reappointment "a serious mistake".
"(Mr Orr) signed off on an extraordinary programme of money printing and cheap lending (which) directly contributed to house prices rising 28 per cent in one year, inflation rising to a 32-year high, and record bank profits," she said.
"New Zealanders now suffering through a cost of living crisis are owed some answers."
On Wednesday, Ms Willis, now the finance minister, offered just a brief statement on his departure.
"I wish him well for the future," she said.
Wastewatch group the Taxpayers Union also cheered his exit.
"Orr's work caused the single worst economic downturn in New Zealand in over three decades. He was far too slow to react as inflation increased, and far too slow to lower interest rates as inflation fell," spokesman James Ross said.
Mr Quigley defended Mr Orr's record.
"The job of the Reserve Bank governor is one where you face unrelenting critique of your actions," he said.
"With the pandemic and everything else we have very good memories of the challenges we have confronted."
Deputy Governor Christian Hawkesby is acting as governor until March 31, when Ms Willis can - on recommendation from the RBNZ board - appoint a temporary governor for up to six months.
In an intriguing piece of timing, Mr Orr leaves a day before Wellington hosts a major international conference to mark "35 years of inflation targeting", with former US reserve chair Ben Bernanke giving the keynote address.
Mr Orr will now not be attending, and is instead spending the month whittling down accrued leave.
