Latest
Labor should not stack Reserve Bank with union officials: Taylor
Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor has accused Treasurer Jim Chalmers of failing to follow a merit-based process in appointing Iain Ross and Elana Rubin to the RBA board.
- Michael Read
- Exclusive
- Monetary policy
We are not a ‘rubber stamp’: RBA board member
Mark Barnaba has rejected a key finding of an independent review used to shake up the central bank, arguing the board has “strong debate” and is not a “rubber stamp” for governor Philip Lowe.
- John Kehoe
Chile unveils plans to nationalise vast lithium industry
The left-leaning government is seeking a bigger role for the state in a metal that is critical to the clean energy transition.
- Updated
- Alexander Villegas and Ernest Scheyder
Doctors split over test to assess your risk of heart attack or stroke
A single test that determines your risk of having a heart attack or stroke in the next five years, is at risk itself.
- Jill Margo
China readies supersonic spy drone for region: US intelligence
The drone will primarily be used to monitor the entire Indo-Pacific region, not just Taiwan, experts say.
- Christian Shepherd, Vic Chiang, Pei-Lin Wu and Ellen Nakashima
- Updated
- Monetary policy
Expert RBA board to shake up rates debate, ‘test’ Lowe
A revamped Reserve Bank of Australia board will be expected to robustly challenge Philip Lowe and future governors, in a bid to improve economic decision-making and prevent mistakes.
- Updated
- Michael Read, John Kehoe and Mark Ludlow
Opinion & Analysis
The power of American capitalism
In 1990, the US economy accounted for 40 per cent of the nominal GDP of the G-7 nations. By 2022 the US accounted for 58 per cent.
Contributor
America’s economic performance is not all that it appears
The numbers aren’t really as good as they look, and there are shadows over America that aren’t captured by GDP.
Contributor
The public gets it: leave super alone
The government still wants to divert Australia’s huge super pot into good works. But voters have other ideas.
Editorial
The RBA can improve but is not broken
Recommendations to remodel the RBA means fewer board meetings, more challenges to the governor, but will it change how mortgages are set?
Economics editor
More From Today
- Opinion
- Global economy
The power of American capitalism
In 1990, the US economy accounted for 40 per cent of the nominal GDP of the G-7 nations. By 2022 the US accounted for 58 per cent.
- David Brooks
- Opinion
- Global economy
America’s economic performance is not all that it appears
The numbers aren’t really as good as they look, and there are shadows over America that aren’t captured by GDP.
- Paul Krugman
Yesterday
- Opinion
- The AFR View
The public gets it: leave super alone
The government still wants to divert Australia’s huge super pot into good works. But voters have other ideas.
- The AFR View
- Analysis
- Monetary policy
The RBA can improve but is not broken
Recommendations to remodel the RBA means fewer board meetings, more challenges to the governor, but will it change how mortgages are set?
- John Kehoe
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
Ukraine and the perils of land for peace
Forcing Ukraine to trade its independent and undisputed territory for a peace settlement would set a terrible precedent in post-1945 international relations.
- Jon Richardson
This Month
- Opinion
- The AFR View
RBA enters a new era of expertise and diversity
More economists, more press conferences, and more speeches – the new era of communications is coming to the RBA.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Monetary policy
Who would be a Reserve Bank director now?
The diminished cachet of a seat on the Reserve Bank board could be a problem for the government and the bank because they need the best directors they can get.
- Ben Potter
- Opinion
- Monetary policy
Australia’s central bank gets a new culture of debate
A panel of experts at the very pinnacle of the RBA will lift the standards expected in the bank’s internal analysis.
- Jonathan Kearns
RBA told to communicate better but Lowe also wary of too much ‘noise’
The Reserve Bank will hold press conferences following every interest rate decision and members of the new monetary policy board will be encouraged to make speeches.
- Jonathan Shapiro
TikTok’s lobbyists not getting anywhere fast
TikTok – the social media sensation/Beijing’s data harvesting app of choice – desperately needs a win.
- Lucas Baird
RBA’s role in climate change policy is limited, says review
The Reserve Bank should take climate change into account, but supporting the energy transition should not be an explicit goal of interest rates policy.
- Ben Potter
What fewer RBA meetings means for mortgage rates
Questions remain about when the meetings would occur and whether banks will undertake more out-of-cycle interest rate moves.
- Michael Read
The subtle change in how the RBA must manage inflation
The bank will be expected to publicly discuss in more detail its goals for the labour market, via a narrower mandate focused on full employment and inflation.
- John Kehoe
RBA staff surveys reveal central bank at risk of ‘groupthink’
A culture that concentrates decision-making in a handful of senior leaders and a failure to be more open to external views are among some of the issues at the RBA.
- Michael Read
- Analysis
- Monetary policy
The RBA’s billion-dollar blunders, and why it’s still paying for them
The review of the Reserve Bank outlines how and why Australians are paying a high price for the central bank’s pandemic policy mistakes.
- Jonathan Shapiro
RBA’s rate-setting board to move beyond inexpert ‘pub test’
RBA board members drawn from business and industry lack the expertise to scrutinise and challenge interest rate recommendations of RBA staff, a review found.
- Ben Potter
US dumps free market ideals to contain China
Washington’s goal in previous decades of integrating China has been replaced with a debate about how to dis-integrate China.
- Edward Luce
- Opinion
- Monetary policy
RBA governor’s powers to be diluted
The next Reserve Bank governor will not be a one-person show and will inherit more expert board members capable of contesting the bank’s decisions.
- John Kehoe
How gamers eclipsed spies as an intelligence threat
Forget everything you know about old school espionage – the trafficking of classified documents is now the domain of young people chasing clout on the internet.
- Jonathan Askonas
Why it’s not just the 0.5pc who care about super tax changes
This week in The Fin podcast, wealth editor Aleks Vickovich on the noisy minority opposing the superannuation tax reforms, why they are angry and where the government goes from here. And reporter Hannah Wootton on what Millennials think about the debate.
