With another rate rise looking possible before November 24, Crikey asked four of Australia’s leading economists how much control the government actually has over the CPI figures, and should we be blaming them for a potential rate rise?
Inflation rate
Kohler: a rise for now, and another for Christmas
There will now definitely be a rate rise in November. The only question now is whether there will be another one in December as well, and whether the Reserve Bank will even bother waiting for the December quarter CPI in February to move a second time. As for November 7, the day after its next board meeting, if the RBA did not raise interest rates on November 7, it would be rightly seen as a blatantly political act.
As Glenn Stevens said: ”Something needs to be done”
John Howard’s nightmare is looming: his re-election campaign could be the first to suffer an interest rate rise, writes Glenn Dyer.
The Economy: Consumer inflation & consumer confidence
The Roy Morgan Research measure of Consumer Confidence is published today. It shows confidence has dipped slightly from 30-month high it experienced in July.
