Philip Lowe

Philip Lowe served as Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia from 2016 to 2023. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he implemented emergency measures including a 0.10% cash rate target, quantitative easing, and forward guidance suggesting rates would stay low until 2024. When inflation surged globally, the RBA was forced to begin hiking rates in May 2022, much earlier than indicated — triggering criticism of the forward guidance. Lowe faced significant public scrutiny over the Australian housing market's sensitivity to rate changes and became a focal point for debate about central bank communication. His tenure also saw a comprehensive review of the Reserve Bank of Australia — the first such review in its history — commissioned by the government and released in 2023. The review recommended significant governance changes, including splitting the RBA's monetary policy committee and establishing a separate financial stability board. Lowe had joined the RBA in 1980 as a junior economist and rose through the ranks over decades. He was succeeded by Michele Bullock in September 2023, the first woman to lead the RBA. His experience exemplified the broader global lesson about the risks of explicit calendar-based forward guidance during unusually uncertain macroeconomic conditions.