'A bloody long time coming': Bernie Fraser blasts RBA for delayed rate cuts
The former RBA governor said interest rate cuts were overdue and too modest, and criticised the board’s approach to forecasting and employment.
Former Reserve Bank governor Bernie Fraser has hit out at the central bank board for taking too long to cut interest rates, saying the two 25 basis point reductions this year should have occurred six months ago.
Fraser also took issue with the Reserve Bank’s commentary on the labour market, after governor Michele Bullock on Tuesday signalled openness to ongoing debates within the economics profession that monetary policymakers may be mistaken on full employment.
“It’s been a bloody long time coming, to be honest,” Fraser told Capital Brief about the latest rate cut in May.
Fraser said it was already "pretty apparent" six months ago that inflation was easing and global growth was weakening — well before Donald Trump’s return to the political stage.
