Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe has issued warnings more interest rate hikes are needed to bring down cost of living pressures felt across the economy due to soaring inflation.
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Speaking in Sydney on Thursday, Dr Lowe defended his tenure as the boss of the nation's central bank, outlining the need to bring down inflation and slow down aggregate demand to prevent a deterioration in living standards and a jack-up in unemployment.
His comments of "high inflation is a scourge" come as the governor faces an onslaught of pressure to resign over faster interest rate rises than initially predicted.
During his speech he pushed back on claims that the bank signalled rates were staying at the record low of 0.1 per cent until 2024, lamenting it was forward guidance based on economic forecasts out of the pandemic.
"We thought the pandemic was going to have long lasting disruptive effects on the economy. That would keep inflation low, would keep unemployment high for years and we wanted to do what we could to prevent that," Dr Lowe said.
"That meant that we were likely to keep interest rates low for a long period of time out to 2024. So it was highly conditional."
The Greens and right wing conservatives such as Matt Canavan have called for the RBA governor to resign, claiming the bank had misguided borrowers who took out mortgages during the pandemic.
Both the government and the opposition have not called for Mr Lowe's resignation.
On Tuesday, the RBA invoked a 50 basis point hike to 2.35 per cent. It is the most aggressive series of policy tightening since 1994.
Dr Lowe reaffirmed the bank's core role of price stabilisation and bringing inflation back into the target range of 2 to 3 per cent. He noted sustained levels of higher inflation would have larger consequences for the economy.
"We're acutely aware that higher interest rates affect the community differently," he said.
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"We need to get inflation back down and that means higher interest rates. And that means that aggregate demand has to grow a bit more slowly for a while to bring it in line with the capacity of the economy to supply."
Inflation for the December quarter is forecast to hit 7.75 per cent with the central bank anticipating it will run at around 4 per cent throughout 2023.
Australia's inflation target range is 2 to 3 per cent. Markets are predicting the cash will settle at around 3.5 to 3.8 per cent sometime next year.
ANZ expects another 50 basis point hike in October followed by two 25 basis point increases in November and December, which would bring the cash rate to 3.35 per cent.
Dr Lowe did note the cash rate had reached the neutral zone and hinted hikes would begin slowing down to only 25 basis points hikes.
The governor also flagged higher inflation would have a much larger effect on lower income earners.
"It damages our standard of living, creates additional uncertainty for households and businesses, erodes the value of people's savings and adds to inequality. And without price stability, it is not possible to achieve a sustained period of low unemployment," he said.
During his speech, Dr Lowe said the flexibility of monetary targeting made it hard to judge the bank's performance at a given time and complicated its accountability. But acknowledged the overreach in stimulus during the pandemic had led to higher inflation.
"We've certainly got higher inflation and that's partly because of the insurance policy we took out during the pandemic," he said.
"I think we made the right choice. We provided society with insurance based on the health advice that we had."
Dr Lowe flagged the upcoming review of the RBA should detail how trade-offs to adjust economic settings are measured.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers' independent review into the central bank will examine if monetary settings are adequate for the future economy and the challenges which face it.
The governor also said the full effects of interest rate hikes are yet to be felt across the economy, flagging household spending remained a key area of uncertainty about future rate decisions.
