‘Difficult balancing act’: RBA trying to control inflation and satisfy consumers

The RBA has a “difficult balancing act” between controlling inflation and also making sure consumers can get through the end of the year, says Bank of America’s head of Australia and New Zealand economics, Vice-President Micaela Fuchila.

“We have an inbuilt measure of household spending which looks at what the consumers going to be in the next quarter and this is the first time that index actually has dropped into the negative level,” Ms Fuchila told Sky News Business Editor Ross Greenwood.

“The ABS data’s showing actually that consumption is at the same levels that we have seen during the pandemic when the economy was in lockdown.

“If you take into account the amount of population growth that we had in the last year – it’s actually extremely weak consumption.

“Measures of discretionary spending and essential spending are both declining, suggesting they’re really, really feeling the interest rate rises as well as the inflation.”

Видео ‘Difficult balancing act’: RBA trying to control inflation and satisfy consumers канала Sky News Australia