Christopher Kent: Fixed income markets and the economy

The Bloomberg Address by Mr Christopher Kent, Assistant Governor (Financial Markets) of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Sydney, 9 August 2017.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

I thank Leon Berkelmans for invaluable assistance in preparing these remarks.

Introduction

Thank you to Bloomberg for kindly playing host this morning. I was here just over a year ago discussing the economy's transition following the end of the mining boom. That was in my capacity as the Bank's chief economist. For the past few quarters I've been through my own transition. I now oversee the Bank's Financial Markets Group. This move has provided me the chance to reflect upon the interactions between finance and the broader economy. I wish to share some observations about those interactions today, focusing on the fixed income market.