Bullock ties this year’s 75 basis-point tightening to inflation
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock told parliament the cash-rate target has been raised by 50 basis points since February and by 75 basis points in total this year. She put unemployment at 4.5 per cent and said headline and underlying inflation over the past year were around or a little above 3.5 per cent. The August forecast returns inflation to the target midpoint only in late 2027. Housing prices remain around 50 per cent higher than in early 2020. Card surcharging ends on 1 October.
Economics & Markets··Midday
Seventy-five basis points
Michele Bullock told parliament the cash-rate target has been raised by 50 basis points since the February hearing and by 75 basis points in total this year. She put the unemployment rate at 4.5 per cent. Headline and underlying inflation over the past year were around or a little above 3.5 per cent, she said. ABC News covered the same House economics committee appearance on 18 September. It added deputy governor Andrew Hauser’s line that long-term global real rates look closer to a more sensible level than a year or two ago.[1], [2]
Late 2027
Bullock recalled the August Statement on Monetary Policy forecast that inflation would not return to around the midpoint of the target range until late 2027. That timetable is the Bank's published path, not a promise that prices have already settled. Bullock’s late-2027 midpoint path is the August Statement she recalled. ABC’s piece is more about whether the 28-29 September board might move the cash rate toward 4.6 percent, a market-and-economist overlay rather than her printed forecast.[1], [2]
Houses and card fees
She said housing prices have fallen in most capital cities but remain around 50 per cent higher than in early 2020. She repeated that card surcharging is set to be removed from 1 October. The 50 percent housing-price gap versus early 2020 and the 1 October card-surcharge end are Bullock’s hearing lines. ABC did not need those two domestic details to report that she was in front of the committee.[1]
