Reserve Bank says energy plan is working

The independent Reserve Bank has today confirmed that the Albanese Government’s energy plan is helping moderate inflation in our economy.

The RBA says our energy plan will do exactly what the economy needs it to do and exactly what Australian households and businesses need it to do: take some of the sting out of high power prices.

“Over this year and next, increases in wholesale costs are expected to be dampened by the Australian Government’s Energy Price Relief Plan,” the Reserve Bank said in its Statement on Monetary Policy released today.

It will take some time for the benefits to fully flow through, but there are encouraging signs that our action is starting to work.

Critically, the Reserve Bank said the Government’s action on energy was taking some of the pressure off inflation in our economy.

By helping address the inflation challenge, we’re not making the job of the Reserve Bank harder.

This inflation challenge is the defining feature of our economy–and that makes it the Government’s big focus.

Our plan for inflation has three parts:

• Providing responsible cost‑of‑living relief,
• Tackling the supply chain and capacity challenges that were left to us, and
• Delivering a responsible Budget with spending restraint.

Inflation is still unacceptably high, and it will stay higher than we want it to for longer than we want it to.

But the RBA said today price pressures were likely to have begun moderating.

“Inflation is likely to have peaked around the end of 2022 and is forecast to return to the target range over coming years,” the RBA said.

The fact that the RBA confirms today our energy package is working makes it even more disappointing that the Opposition voted against it.

They want inflation to be higher, we want it to be lower.

We understand Australians are doing it tough. That’s why the Albanese Government will keep its focus on delivering responsible cost‑of‑living relief and dealing with the inflation challenge in our economy.