Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Cameron Bagrie: Economist on Anna Breman being appointed the new Reserve Bank Governor
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: So, after scanning three hundred candidates, the Reserve Bank has
- 0:03Speaker 1: finally set on a New York governor. Doctor Anna Breman Bremen,
- 0:07Speaker 1: who has been deputy governor of Sweden's Reex Bank since
- 0:11Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, will step into the role from December. She's
- 0:14Speaker 1: the first woman to be named as governor in the
- 0:15Speaker 1: bank's ninety one year history. Have it listen to this
- 0:19Speaker 1: their ser bank should and it will remain a source
- 0:25Speaker 1: of strength and stability.
- 0:28Speaker 2: For the New Zealand economy.
- 0:31Speaker 1: And together with the board and with staff, we will
- 0:34Speaker 1: achieve this by focusing on our core mandate. Cameron Bakery,
- 0:39Speaker 1: independent economist, is with me. Now, thanks for your time
- 0:41Speaker 1: this morning, Cameron, Good morning.
- 0:43Speaker 2: Oh, good morning.
- 0:44Speaker 1: Right, what do we know about her?
- 0:48Speaker 2: Oh, she's got a pretty extensive CV, she's got central
- 0:50Speaker 2: bank experience, she's worked diversities. She clicks pretty well all
- 0:55Speaker 2: the boxes that you want of a credible central bank governs.
- 0:58Speaker 2: So let's go on.
- 1:00Speaker 1: Do you think this is the kind of job that
- 1:02Speaker 1: people want?
- 1:04Speaker 2: Well, if the media reports are correct, there are an
- 1:07Speaker 2: awful lot of cvs that were thrown in a few
- 1:12Speaker 2: pretty high credibly candidates in New Zealand had a crack
- 1:16Speaker 2: at the job as well and best person one.
- 1:18Speaker 1: What do you think her interest in taking the job
- 1:20Speaker 1: in New Zealanders?
- 1:22Speaker 2: I guess if you have yes, she was repeated for
- 1:25Speaker 2: your depitty head well next layer down of management at
- 1:29Speaker 2: the risk bank, so I think most people work for
- 1:33Speaker 2: those of the jobs. Ultimately, you wanted the top job
- 1:36Speaker 2: at a central bank. Obviously New Zealand's a way way
- 1:38Speaker 2: away from where she sort of was. But yeah, the
- 1:40Speaker 2: reserve banks had a pretty esteemed institution. Obviously they've got
- 1:45Speaker 2: knocked around in the past of the six months in
- 1:47Speaker 2: regard to what's going on, but if you go back,
- 1:49Speaker 2: they have a look at the Reserve Bank over the
- 1:51Speaker 2: past of the thirty to thirty five years. In that
- 1:53Speaker 2: year we've had low inflation, so they've been highly credible.
- 1:57Speaker 2: They've done a very good job overall.
- 1:59Speaker 1: Cameron, how bigger mess does she have to clean up here?
- 2:02Speaker 1: What should be her priorities?
- 2:05Speaker 2: Miss? I think is the wrong sort of word. But
- 2:07Speaker 2: if you look at obviously at the epy center of
- 2:09Speaker 2: the central Bank, they sort of got three board functions
- 2:13Speaker 2: price stability. We don't like high inflation, we're like low inflation.
- 2:18Speaker 2: We've learned that lesson very sevidly over the past a
- 2:21Speaker 2: few years, and she's come out and obviously fired a
- 2:25Speaker 2: couple of shots in regard that they're going to be
- 2:27Speaker 2: focused on inflation and the center of any central bank
- 2:31Speaker 2: is your credibility. So she's been straight out of the
- 2:33Speaker 2: blocks in regard to say these are what the focus
- 2:36Speaker 2: is going to be. She'll be focused on prudential supervision
- 2:39Speaker 2: and of course oversight of the pavement system. Now are
- 2:42Speaker 2: we going to see any groundbreaking changes in regard to
- 2:45Speaker 2: the operation of the Reserve Bank? I think the answer
- 2:48Speaker 2: is known. You know, the Reserve Bank, there's more than
- 2:50Speaker 2: the governor. The governor does not decide where interest rates are.
- 2:54Speaker 2: All the oco is going to be. It's decided buy
- 2:56Speaker 2: a committee. There's a very transparent process where we're going
- 3:00Speaker 2: to see some changes. The Reserve Bank is perhaps within culture.
- 3:04Speaker 2: So what's the space going forward?
- 3:06Speaker 1: Okay, you don't happen to know how well Sweden is
- 3:09Speaker 1: doing economically, I mean, what does this tell us anything
- 3:12Speaker 1: about the way she might approach things here?
- 3:16Speaker 2: Well, central bank, sweet the Central Bank had incredibly lower
- 3:20Speaker 2: interest rates and they were quite pleased to get back
- 3:24Speaker 2: into positive interest rate ciatry. But once again, she's going
- 3:28Speaker 2: to be laser focus on the key priorities because the
- 3:31Speaker 2: eb center of any central bank is credibility, and that's
- 3:35Speaker 2: credibility in the framework, that's credibility in the governor. It's
- 3:40Speaker 2: credibility in the governance. And when you lose a governor
- 3:43Speaker 2: and you lose a cheer within six months, you're going
- 3:45Speaker 2: to take a bit of a reputational hat. So the
- 3:48Speaker 2: Reserve Bank needs to address some of those reputational aspects
- 3:51Speaker 2: and I think it'll be ye not too fanom the
- 3:54Speaker 2: word the term because the government gets on throwing and back.
- 3:57Speaker 2: I think it's going to be getting back to good
- 3:59Speaker 2: old fashioned basics.
- 4:00Speaker 1: Thank you, yeah, Cameron Bekery. Always appreciate your thoughts. Thanks
- 4:03Speaker 1: so much for your time. For more from Early Edition
- 4:06Speaker 1: with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talks it'd be
- 4:09Speaker 1: from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.