Uncertainty still clouds the path to bring inflation back to target and Michele Bullock will have an opportunity to air her worries at her first-ever parliamentary hearing as central bank governor.
Ms Bullock and other Reserve Bank of Australia boffins will appear before the committee on Friday in Canberra to field questions on monetary policy, the economic outlook, and recent reforms at the key institution.
It will be the central banker’s second public appearance this week after she fronted the RBA’s first post-board meeting press conference on Tuesday in Sydney.
At the board’s first monetary policy meeting of the year, the cash interest rate was left unchanged at 4.35 per cent, as was widely expected in the wake of signs inflation was easing.
The consumer price index fell to 4.1 per cent in the 12 months to December – its lowest level in two years – from 5.4 per cent in the year to September.
Yet the job of getting consumer price growth back between the RBA’s two-three per cent target band is not complete, and the board remains worried inflation may not come down as fast as they would like.
With price pressures still lurking, the prospect of more interest rate hikes has not been ruled out.
Chair of the federal parliamentary standing committee on economics, Labor MP Daniel Mulino, said he would use the hearing to examine the bank’s approach to tackling still-high inflation.
“The committee is interested to hear how the RBA will factor in future data and evolving risks as it continues to support a return to the target inflation rate,” he said in a statement.