The Australian government named Michele Bullock on Friday as the new deputy governor of the country’s central bank, the first woman in the bank’s 62-year history, for a five-year term.
Bullock is currently an assistant governor at the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) responsible for the bank’s financial stability and has an oversight of the payments system.
She will replace Guy Debelle, who resigned from the central bank early in March to join a green energy group founded by Australia’s richest man, billionaire miner Andrew Forrest.
The Australian dollar was in a holding pattern on Friday as markets awaited the latest reading on US jobs, while pondering the possibilities for next week’s RBA policy meeting.
A strong reading for March payrolls, and particularly for average weekly earnings, could lift the US dollar broadly, though the market already has a huge amount of tightening priced in for the Federal Reserve.
It is also wagering that the RBA will start raising rates as soon as June, given that unemployment has fallen to 4% well ahead of forecasts, and core inflation for the first quarter looks likely to spike above 3%.
The RBA has so far vowed to be “patient” on policy and any softening of that commitment next week would only spur speculation of an early rise.
“We think the soonest the RBA will move is June,” David Plank, ANZ’s head of Australian economics, said.
“It will be starting from a level that is well below neutral and, as such, we think a number of successive monthly hikes is very likely.”
- Reuters, with additional editing by George Russell
READ MORE:
Australian Uranium Miners Vimy, Deep Yellow in $495m Merger
Australia’s Star to Defend Class Action Over ‘Deceptive Conduct’
Australia Budget Reflects Post-Covid Recovery – The Age
