00:01Please welcome to the board, Michelle.
00:04It's the message a room full of economists wanted to hear,
00:08but not millions of mortgage borrowers.
00:10If it looks like that inflation is not coming down,
00:16then I think the board have some difficult decisions to make
00:19in terms of raising interest rates.
00:21People on the street are feeling the pain of rising prices.
00:24I cut back on going out, which I do love,
00:28but I had to because of the cost of living.
00:31This is part of the plan.
00:33This is what interest rates are designed to do.
00:35They're designed to slow demand.
00:37The Reserve Bank's already raised the cash rate three times this year,
00:41but a recent survey of consumers threw it a massive curveball.
00:45Your survey shows inflation is the biggest concern for most Australians,
00:49but it also shows most of those Australians
00:52think you're contributing to it by raising interest rates.
00:55Do they have a point?
00:59People who have mortgages, at least,
01:01they see increases in interest rates as an increase in the cost of living,
01:04but it's not really.
01:07We're on a variable rate, so it has increased our mortgage slightly, yeah.
01:11But some economists warn not buy enough.
01:13They are losing their patience on the inflation battle.
01:17It's already been out of target for about four years.
01:20At the moment, investors think there's just a 20% chance
01:24the bank will raise rates in August,
01:26but that could change dramatically after tomorrow's June quarter inflation numbers,
01:31expected to show annual price growth remaining stubbornly high,
01:35and a speech on Thursday by the RBA's chief economist reacting to that data.
01:40We'll see you again soon.
01:41You've got to track the scientific headlines.
