RBA’s Bullock: Inflation likely to rise further in near term

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Michele Bullock testified on Thursday before the Senate Economics Legislation Committee.

Key quotes

Flow of data and developments since may has not been materially different to our expectations.

We expect inflation to increase further in the near term.

We will be carefully monitoring conditions to assess how the combined effects of higher interest rates and the energy price shock are playing out.

Having raised the cash rate three times, monetary policy is well placed to respond to developments.

Inflation is too high, and the board will do what it considers necessary to achieve our mandate to deliver price stability and full employment.

We’ve already seen some signs that this tightening is starting to work, though it will take around 1 to 2 years for the effects to fully flow through the economy.

Conditions in the housing market have eased in recent months and that partly reflects tighter monetary policy.

Market reaction 

At the time of writing, the AUD/USD pair is trading 0.02% lower on the day to trade at 0.7127.