Economics Committee releases its RBA report

THE House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics today released its report Review of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Annual Report 2021. The report focuses on matters arising from the committee’s public hearing with the RBA in September 2022.

Daniel Mulino MP, chair of the committee, said, “The committee’s regular scrutiny of the RBA occurred at an unprecedented time.

“The domestic and global environment had changed rapidly since the last hearing in February. International pressures, including the war in Ukraine, a recovery in local demand as we came out of pandemic lockdowns, and supply side constraints all combined to push inflation to its highest rate since 1990.

"The committee appreciates that several factors influencing inflation could not have been foreseen," Dr Mulino said.

During the hearing, the committee scrutinised the RBA’s approach to monetary policy, including the inflation target; forward guidance on interest rate movements; and the path to bringing inflation down within the target range over time.

“Transparency and accountability in the RBA’s monetary policy decision-making are paramount, and the committee will continue to scrutinise the RBA’s policy responses to current and emerging threats to the economy,” Dr Mulino said.

“The committee also expects the RBA to closely examine lessons learnt from its approach to forecasting and the way it communicated this. Australian households, workers and industries deserve nothing less.”

Other issues the committee canvassed included:

• the interaction between fiscal and monetary policy
• climate change
• housing affordability
• productivity and the labour market.

A full copy of the report is available on the committee’s website.

The committee will next hear from the RBA on February 17, 2023.

 

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