RBA: Farewell to a steady hand of Glenn Stevens - ANZ

Research Team at ANZ, suggests that Glenn Stevens will deliver his final speech as Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia today and his tenure will certainly go down as one of the most eventful in history.

Key Quotes

“When he took office ten years ago the economy was in the midst of a mining boom while the rest of the world was becoming increasingly engorged on .housing credit. At the time, interest rates were at 5.5%, on their way to 7.25%.

Similarly in the US, rates had been raised all the way up to 5.25%. Since then he has had to grapple with the global financial crisis, the euro crisis, the unwind of the commodities boom, the introduction of unconventional policy, and significant market volatility in the wake of the Fed’s attempts to signal tighter policy. He also opened up central bank communication, committing to releasing a statement after every meeting, and providing minutes of the board’s policy deliberations — ushering in a new era of central bank transparency in Australia.

With the cash rate now at a record low of 1.5 %, we have seen significant policy shifts through his tenure, but as a testament to the organisation and its leader, Australia managed to avoid a recession, despite its challenges, and has seen inflation averaging 2.5%, right in the middle of the RBA’s target. With a record like this, Mr. Stevens has certainly earned the right to “chill out”.”