澳大利亚储备银行行长米歇尔·布洛克周三在议会听证会上表示，澳大利亚通胀前景面临的上行风险正在成为现实。此时距离政策制定者开会考虑进一步加息不到一周。
Upside risks to Australia’s inflation outlook are materializing, Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock told a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday, less than a week before policymakers meet to consider raising interest rates further.
布洛克在向参议院委员会所作的开场陈述中说：“一些国际和国内的通胀上行风险已经或正在成为现实。”“因此，通胀可能会高于我们8月份的基本预测。”她宣读这份声明后不久，数据显示上季度通胀同比加速至3.7%，快于此前三个月，并超过3.6%的预估中值。
“Some of the international and domestic upside risks to inflation have materialized or are materializing,” Bullock said in her opening statement to a Senate committee. “Inflation will therefore likely be higher than was our base case in August.”She read her statement just before data showed inflation last quarter accelerated 3.7% from a year ago, faster than in the previous three months and surpassing the median estimate of 3.6%.
由于通胀仍顽固地高于澳大利亚央行目标区间的上限，央行上月将借贷成本提高至15年来的高点4.6%。
The central bank boosted borrowing costs last month to a 15-year high of 4.6% as inflation remains stuck above the top of the RBA’s target.
这是今年第四次加息，也反映出澳大利亚央行在应对价格压力方面的困境，而这些压力甚至在美国—以色列袭击伊朗引发全球能源冲击之前就已出现。
That was the fourth hike this year and reflected the RBA’s struggles with price pressures that began even before the US—Israeli attack on Iran unleashed a global energy shock.
包括副行长安德鲁·豪泽和助理行长莎拉·亨特在内的澳大利亚央行高级官员也与布洛克一同出席了委员会听证会。
Senior RBA officials, including Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser and Assistant Governor Sarah Hunter, also appeared with Bullock before the committee.
在过去10天里，两人都向市场发出了鹰派信号，豪泽称通胀前景比澳大利亚央行8月份的预测“明显更糟”。
In the past 10 days, both sent hawkish signals to the market, with Hauser calling the inflation outlook “materially worse” than the RBA predicted in August.
布洛克在开场陈述中说：“通胀不能过长时间偏离目标，这对经济很重要，因为否则它就有可能固化到通胀预期中，进而传导至价格和工资制定决策。”
“It’s important for the economy that inflation does not diverge from the target for too long,” Bullock said in her opening, “since that risks it becoming embedded in inflation expectations, which feeds through to price and wage setting decisions.”