Monetary Policy Reviewed
The Australian recession of the 1990s – the worst recession since the Great Depression – was in part caused by high interest rates as central banks sought to unwind the excesses and rapid asset price increases of the 1980s, combined with a stock market collapse.
In its aftermath, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) adopted an inflation-targeting framework for monetary policy and saw a long period of benign inflation, hovering mostly in its target range of 2 – 3 per cent.
Until recently, that is.
2022 turned out to be a turning point for monetary policy as inflation increased and central banks were forced to respond.
A dozen rate rises later, we still find ourselves in a highly uncertain environment, where inflation and interest rates are high and the chances of a recession still loom large.
This raises a number of questions:
- Is it time to revise the monetary toolkit?
- Should major economies revisit their 2 -3 per cent inflation targets?
A Reflection on more than 25 Years with the RBA
Speaker: Guy Debelle, former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia and current adviser to the Australian Retirement Trust investment committee
Debelle joined the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in 1994 and became Deputy Governor in 2016, before his departure in 2022. Currently, he is an non-executive director of Fortescue Future Industries. He is also an external adviser to the Investment Committee of the Australian Retirement Trust (ART).
Guy Debelle was there when the central bank embraced the inflation-targeting framework. In this luncheon, DeBelle will reflect on his time with the RBA and evolution in monetary policy during that period.
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Established in 2012, The Investment Innovation Institute [i3] launched its Educational Programs portfolio for Australian superannuation funds and insurance companies, with a focus on investment strategy and governance. In recent years, it has added programs for Asian investors, staging forums in China, Hong Kong and Singapore. A portfolio construction stream for pension and sovereign wealth funds in the Pacific island region was subsequently developed, hosted in Fiji and New Zealand.
In addition, [i3] runs asset class-specific forums for equities, alternatives, fixed income and real estate professionals. The [i3] Luncheon series, often featuring thought-provoking academic research, has proved to be immensely popular too.
In 2020 [i3] launched its Digital programs, complementing the in-person forums.
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