Chalmers to reveal RBA review details soon
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- 25 May 2022
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Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the details of his well-flagged review of the operations of the Reserve Bank of Australia will be announced soon, but in the meantime it's business as usual.
The new treasurer met with RBA governor Philip Lowe and other financial regulators on Wednesday as he comes to grips with his new role and Labor's return to government after almost a decade in opposition.
Both major parties went into last Saturday's federal election promising to review the operations of the RBA, such as looking at how it targets inflation and the make-up of the central bank's board.
"This is a really important opportunity to examine the framework, the operations, of the Reserve Bank to make sure that we are making monetary policy in this country in the best possible way and considering the interaction with fiscal policy as well," Dr Chalmers told reporters in Canberra.
"In the interim, I will be writing to the Reserve Bank in the coming days before the next meeting of the Reserve Bank board to indicate that all of the existing arrangements that the bank operates under and the Reserve Bank board operates under will remain in place until the conclusion of that review."
The independent RBA board next meets on June 7.
Dr Chalmers also met with the heads of the Australian Taxation of Office, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Dr Chalmers says he has worked with Dr Lowe in the past and has a lot of respect for the RBA governor.
Ahead of the meeting, the new treasurer told the heads of regulatory agencies the government is keenly aware of the broader issues facing the economy.
"We're very conscious of the macroeconomic challenges, we're conscious of the challenges in the housing market, data and digital, climate change, regulation and all the rest of it," he said.
"We wanted to make sure you were amongst our highest priorities to have a conversation about the challenges as you see it but also to see how we might be able to work together most effectively as part of the new government."
Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy was also at the meeting, who has already provided a large number of briefings to the incoming government.
"We've been basically joined at the hip since Sunday, getting a whole bunch of briefings," Dr Chalmers said.
"An important part of what we need to do now involves all of the good work of you and your agencies."
The treasurer told ABC TV on Wednesday Labor had inherited "very tricky" economic conditions, such rising inflation and interest rates, falling real wages and a trillion dollars worth of debt. Read More...
