Thursday 4 August 2022 04:43 AM Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe's generous perks from super to ... trends now
Australia's most powerful banker in charge of setting interest rates receives $120,000-a-year in super as he inflicts the most severe pain on borrowers in three decades.
Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe's $1,076,209 remuneration makes him among an elite group of just half a dozen bureaucrats earning seven figures a year.
The economist who last year repeatedly promised interest rates would stay on hold at a record-low of 0.1 per cent - until 2024 'at the earliest' - has this week changed his mind on inflation, revising a forecast he made just two months ago.
The central bank chief and his board on Tuesday raised the cash rate by yet another half a percentage point, marking the fourth monthly rate rise in a row.
His total package is significantly higher than the average Australian mortgage of $600,000, as borrowers cop the most severe mortgage increases since 1994.
Two of Australia's big four banks - ANZ and Westpac - are now expecting the RBA to keep raising rates to a 10-year high of 3.35 per cent, up sharply from the new six-year high of 1.85 per cent.
Dr Lowe's superannuation of $119,760 made up 13 per cent of his base salary of $924,434.
His employer superannuation contribution was significantly higher than the compulsory level of 9.5 per cent in the 2020-21 financial year, which has since increased to 10.5 per cent.
The retirement savings he made in one year was also higher than Australia's average full-time salary of $90,917.
Scroll down for video
Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe's $1,076,209 remuneration makes him among an elite group of just half a dozen bureaucrats earning seven figures a year
On top of that, Dr Lowe was entitled to $8,500 in benefits and 'other allowances' and $23,335 in long-service leave, the RBA's annual report for 2021 showed.
The 'other benefits and allowances' entitlements cover car use like parking, gym membership and fringe benefits tax relief.
Despite those generous perks, Dr Lowe this week expressed concern about the spending habits of Australians, as inflation keeps soaring.
'A key source of uncertainty continues to be the behaviour of household spending,' he said.
The Reserve Bank Board Remuneration Committee determines the salary of Dr Lowe under the Reserve Bank Act of 1959 and meets twice a year.
Under the terms of his pay, Dr Lowe is required to attend 11 monthly board meetings a year.
Dr Lowe, who earns double Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's $549,250 salary, last year repeatedly promised the RBA would leave the cash rate on hold at a record-low of 0.1 per cent until 2024 'at the earliest'.
As recently as October, he argued wages needed to rise before the cash rate rose, even though inflation in June last year had already growing by 3.8 per cent - a level well above the RBA's 2 to 3 per cent target.
Warwick McKibbin, who served on the RBA board from 2001 to 2011, said the Reserve Bank had made a mistake in delaying rate increases last year.
'I was already arguing for rates to be rising by the middle of last year,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
Australia's most powerful banker in charge of setting interest rates receives $120,000-a-year in super as he inflicts the most severe pain on borrowers in three decades
'To make a statement that he had to wait for wages to change, if there was a war in Ukraine, that would cause inflation as well - of
