The Reserve Bank's new boss has not backed away from tough talk, saying the bank must use its "blunt" tool of interest rates to hammer out inflation for the collective welfare of Australians.
While again acknowledging the financial stress confronting many households with large mortgages in the face of surging interest rates, RBA governor Michele Bullock said the bank’s obligations were to all Australians.
And that goes a long way to explaining why the Reserve Bank board elected to raise interest rates again to 4.35 per cent at its November meeting, having kept them on hold for the previous four months.
“If inflation is simply the product of global supply disruptions or other price rises that monetary policy has little influence over, then the appropriate response from interest rates would generally be limited,” Ms Bullock continued.
Second, she said inflation in the services sector, which relies mostly on domestic labour and goods inputs, was a sign that consumer demand remained stronger than the Australian economy could handle.
She said a lack of spare capacity also meant that businesses had incentives to raise prices rather than increase output in the face of strong consumer demand.
Commonwealth Bank chief economist Stephen Halmarick said there seemed to be “a real inability” for the property construction sector to deliver the number of residential dwellings that were needed in Australia right now.
The original article contains 970 words, the summary contains 194 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
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While again acknowledging the financial stress confronting many households with large mortgages in the face of surging interest rates, RBA governor Michele Bullock said the bank’s obligations were to all Australians.
And that goes a long way to explaining why the Reserve Bank board elected to raise interest rates again to 4.35 per cent at its November meeting, having kept them on hold for the previous four months.
“If inflation is simply the product of global supply disruptions or other price rises that monetary policy has little influence over, then the appropriate response from interest rates would generally be limited,” Ms Bullock continued.
Second, she said inflation in the services sector, which relies mostly on domestic labour and goods inputs, was a sign that consumer demand remained stronger than the Australian economy could handle.
She said a lack of spare capacity also meant that businesses had incentives to raise prices rather than increase output in the face of strong consumer demand.
Commonwealth Bank chief economist Stephen Halmarick said there seemed to be “a real inability” for the property construction sector to deliver the number of residential dwellings that were needed in Australia right now.
The original article contains 970 words, the summary contains 194 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!