Missing Down Under: A Thoroughly Modern Central Bank
Australia’s enviable growth record obscured important shortcomings. They are now being laid bare for the world to see.
A relic?
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Here are some novel ideas for the new year: Give monetary experts a greater say in setting interest rates and get central banks to hire more economic historians.
As blindingly obvious as these suggestions are, they would represent an important shift for the Reserve Bank of Australia. The RBA has an enviable reputation internationally, praised by Federal Reserve officials, but lags global benchmarks in some of the basics of modern policymaking, communications and accountability. The bank escaped detailed scrutiny because it presided over three decades without a recession — until the pandemic.