In a National Press Club speech in Sydney on Wednesday,Lowe said the bank had been hearing from financial counsellors who were fielding increasing numbers of calls from people under financial stress.
“A lot of those calls,interestingly,are coming from people who rent,” he said. “Rental stress is at least as big an issue at the moment as mortgage stress.”
Inflation eased to 6.8 per cent in February and the RBA forecasts it will fall back to the top of its 2 to 3 per cent target range by the middle of 2025.
The RBA board on Tuesday keptthe official cash rate at 3.6 per cent amid global financial market instability and to assess the impact of its previous 10 rises,but Lowe said that did not mean increases were over.
“The board expects that some further tightening of monetary policy may well be needed to return inflation to target within a reasonable time frame,” he said.
Lowe conceded the RBA’s timeline for reducing inflation was longer than those of other central banks,but the board wanted to ensure the unemployment rate –currently around 50-year lows at 3.5 per cent – did not rise too high.