(24 February 2012 – Australia) The nation’s most influential banker, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Glenn Stevens and his top officials will be quizzed on the economy by Federal politicians on Friday.The scheduled six-monthly grilling comes at a time of huge structural change on the back of a booming mining sector and a strong Australian dollar, which is hurting other areas such as manufacturing and tourism.
House of Representatives economics committee chair Julie Owens said the hearing was timely given the competing pressures in the economy.
‘There are structural changes, so it’s always interesting to know the Reserve Bank’s position on that, and how that impacts on their decision making,’ Ms Owens, the Labor member for Parramatta, told AAP on Thursday.
When the RBA last met, the cash rate was left unchanged at 4.25 percent, Stevens said at the time the monetary policy was ‘appropriate for the moment’ with economic growth expected to be close to trend and inflation close to the middle of the central bank’s two to three percent target.