RBA Governor Philip Lowe’s final act

Plus, the broken capex channel from commodities to AUD

Governor Lowe hands former Governor Glenn Stevens’ ‘half full’ mug to Governor-designate Michele Bullock at Thursday’s ABE lunch. Photo credit: Stephen Kirchner

RBA Governor Philip Lowe concludes his seven-year term at the end of this coming week, making last Thursday’s speech to Australian Business Economists his final public appearance. There was no shortage of associated commentary praising Lowe’s contributions during his time as Governor, which is entirely appropriate for such an occasion. But we would be remiss in leaving the last word to Phil. Lowe’s reflections on his time in office underscore many of the criticisms that have been made of the conduct of Australian monetary policy over the last seven years, not least from the RBA Review.