Peak interest rate to support Bullock, says Comyn

afr.com:

Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn says incoming Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock’s job will be easier than it was for Philip Lowe, given the cash rate is forecast to peak after one more interest rate increase.

“It is certainly going to be a very scrutinised role as governor – as governor Lowe has experienced – but I think, helpfully, we are at near the end of the hiking cycle,” Mr Comyn told ABC radio on Monday.

Matt Comyn: “Communicating  and being subjected to scrutiny… is certainly the era we live in.”  Brent Lewin

“We see one more rate hike – hopefully no more than that – and I think that will probably set a slightly different set of conditions for Michele.”

Financial markets assume the RBA will lift interest rates once more from the current cash rate of 4.1 per cent, then hold it steady until May next year, at which point it could start to cut rates.

This would mean Dr Lowe has done the heavy lifting in the fight to return inflation to target, allowing Ms Bullock a honeymoon period when she takes up the top job from September.

Mr Comyn said inflation data, to be published on Wednesday next week, was likely to show an annualised rate of growth of just over 6 per cent, supporting one more 0.25 percentage point increase in the cash rate. But with inflation falling around the world, the Chinese economy slowing, and Australian households facing intense cost-of-living pressures, that could justify an end to the tightening cycle.

Still, he recognised the RBA’s new communications policy, where Ms Bullock will hold a press conference following each rate decision on a new timetable of every six weeks rather than monthly, would result in continuing scrutiny. Mr Comyn said Ms Bullock’s style meant she was well