RBA's Bullock and Jim Chalmers are now at odds over a crucial piece of the economic puzzle
Ever since Michele Bullock took the reins at the Reserve Bank she has been singing from the same songbook as Jim Chalmers. But the two economic heavyweights struck very different tones this week.
Shortly after the Reserve Bank handed down its decision to keep rates on hold on Tuesday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers was telling reporters in Brisbane that the government’s cost-of-living relief was helping the fight against inflation.
“The government's highest priority is to roll out this cost‑of‑living help in a way that helps on the inflation front, rather than hurts the efforts against inflation, and I think we see that recognised in the RBA forecast today,” Chalmers said at a press conference.
But details in the central bank’s 64-page Statement on Monetary Policy struck a pointedly different tone. It shows how little the federal government's $3.5 billion energy bill relief, and similar state government supports, will contribute to the main inflation battle.
Because the RBA wants to make sure inflation is sustainably within its 2% to 3% target range.
