Bill Shorten conceded that a cash rate increase will cause millions of Australians more financial pain, as an economist warns the Reserve Bank not to “kill the economy” chasing inflation.
The Reserve Bank will hand down its monetary policy decision at 2:30pm AEST on Tuesday, with economists split on what the outcome will be.
Mr Shorten told Sky News Australia that a 12th cash rate hike would be “incredibly tough” on households who are already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. “I see some of the more hawkish economists saying ‘blah blah blah, we have got to increase rates’, well I’m not sure that’s much comfort to hundreds of thousands of households coming of fixed-rate mortgages this year,” Mr Shorten said.
“We are doing all we can but you can’t sugar-coat it, this is pretty tough for a millions of households.”
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