The West Australian.
Deputy governor Andrew Hauser has declared the Reserve Bank will do “whatever is necessary” to slow inflation while again ringing the alarm on Australia’s productivity woes.
The hawkish comments came one week after the RBA lifted the official cash rate from 3.6 per cent to 3.85 per cent amid signs consumer prices were rebounding.
He said underlying inflation — which was 3.4 per cent through 2025 — is “too high”. Yet the central bank was hopeful some of the shock would be temporary.
“There’s a benign story that it’s a series of one-off factors that should unwind. That’s . . . perhaps the majority,” Dr Hauser told an Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry event in Sydney.
“But the less benign story is that some of it reflects growing underlying pressure of the pick up in demand against supply constraints.
“If that’s true, the risk is higher inflation may persist. We can’t let that happen.”