RBA Deputy Governor Michele Bullock said interest rate at 2.35% is not yet restrictive. But the central was already looking for opportunities to slow the pace of tightening at some point. The monthly inflation data to be released next week would have a lot of statistical noises, and would unlikely be having much impact of the deliberations at the October meeting.
Regarding the asset purchased during the pandemic bond buying program, Bullock said RBA had taken a mark-to-market valuation loss of AUD 33.9B in 2021/22. That would let the central bank in a negative net equity position of AUD 12.4B. But she added, since it has the ability to create money, the Bank can continue to meet its obligations as they become due and so it is not insolvent… The negative equity position will, therefore, not affect the ability of the Reserve Bank to do its job.”
