Investing.com - In a bid to refine its operations, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is undergoing significant modifications, as revealed by Governor Philip Lowe. This comes after an extensive RBA evaluation conducted earlier this year.
Lowe outlined ten key alterations in the bank’s policymaking procedures, of which we will focus on the first five:
The frequency of board meetings will be reduced from 11 times annually to 8. The new schedule includes four primary meetings taking place on February's, May's, August's and November's first Tuesdays; with an additional four happening between these months.
Meeting durations will increase and kick off each Monday afternoon before resuming Tuesday morning with decisions announced at 2:30 pm.
Board members can now partake in pre-meeting internal staff discussions for broader engagement with team members.
Responsibility for releasing post-meeting statements transitions from the Governor exclusively to encompass all Board members.
Lastly, an hour following decision announcements at 3:30 pm, a media conference led by the governor explaining those decisions will take place.
According to Lowe, these adjustments aim toward more comprehensive contemplation over issues:
"We're giving ourselves more time for thorough examination of intricate matters and fostering deeper dialogues about monetary policy strategies," said Lowe. He added that this also allows their staff ample time for analysis without having to rush summaries preparation or limit themselves when discussing various topics directly with other board members during meetings."
Furthermore, he noted that post-meeting press briefings would offer timely explanations of Board decisions while addressing any queries - supplementing existing communication channels like Q&A sessions through speeches.
Addressing last week’s unchanged interest rate decision (held steady at 4.1%), Lowe stated it provides them room to evaluate economic conditions better along with potential risks involved.
He explained that maintaining rates was a response given rising rates since last May totaling up-to-date increases by four percentage points – marking notable rapid tightening in monetary policies aimed at achieving balanced supply-demand dynamics within the economy thereby reducing inflation levels.
Despite being a common practice among most advanced economies' central banks lately due to similar reasons - Australia isn't isolated here,” reassured Lowe.
Acknowledging how monetary policies impact gradually over time rather than immediately affecting households’ expenditure & business investment plans or fixed-rate loans resets yet expected; he concluded his statement predicting subdued economic growth amidst a slowing return towards targeted inflation levels.