RBA’s Kent Warns Rate-Setting Board Is Very Focused on Inflation

The global energy shock driven by war in Iran risks further fueling price pressures in Australia and pushing up inflation expectations at a time of existing capacity constraints, Reserve Bank Assistant Governor Chris Kent said.

“No one knows how long the conflict in the Middle East will last though, what energy prices will do and the extent to which those price pressures risk adding to inflation pressures — the so-called second-round things,” Kent said in response to a question after a speech in Sydney on Thursday.