After this week brought a 5th consecutive interest rate hike, the scrutiny on the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and its leader Dr Philip Lowe is intense. But yesterday, Lowe defended himself and the decisions he and the board have made. And he said he has no plans to resign after some say he broke a promise to keep record low interest rates of 0.1% on hold until 2024. What he said last year was they were “unlikely” to rise, and critics say many Aussies took on mortgages on the assumption that repayments would be stable for a while. But the opposite has happened… “Interest rates are higher, I know people don’t like that, but you should be welcoming the stronger economy, and that’s what I’d say to people who are kind of unhappy with the promise – wasn’t a promise,” he said yesterday. The Treasury is leading a review to determine whether the central bank has and continues to act in the nation’s best interests. The findings of that review won’t be released until March 2023.