Rate Hold More Political Than Cut We Should Have Had
And a second cut – from 4.1% to 3.85% – is exactly what the Reserve Bank should have delivered today.
The Treasurer and Prime Minister constantly remind us that the bank is independent of government and politics.
Now, suddenly, the RBA doesn’t want to look political.
“Australian mortgage holders are suffering too much for the bank to tiptoe around the sensitivities of our political leaders,” said Greg Jericho, Chief Economist at The Australia Institute.
“When rates were going up, the bank had no problem slugging borrowers ten times in a row.
“Now that rates are coming down – and the bank board is meeting less often – the RBA is more worried about appearing political than doing the right thing by Australians.
“All the indicators have continued to move in the right direction since the last rate cut. Underlying inflation has now been below 3% for three straight months – so why wait?
“Interest rate cuts never happen as a one-off. The RBA has already indicated that more are coming. So, I repeat, why wait?”
https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/rate-hold-more-political-than-the-cut-we-should-have-had/