Former Reserve Bank of Australia research manager Peter Tulip says board lacks economic expertise

The Reserve Bank of Australia keeps making the wrong decisions because 'part-time amateurs' are making calls on interest rates, a former bank insider says. The Reserve Bank of Australia keeps making wrong decisions because 'part-time amateurs' are making calls on interest rates, a former insider says Peter Tulip, who was the RBA's senior research manager from 2011 to 2020, said the central bank board, with business leaders, lacked the gravitas to challenge Dr Lowe on flawed decisions 'Other central banks have monetary policy decisions made by stars of the economics profession - we have them made by part-time amateurs,' he told Daily Mail Australia. One-time Coca-Cola Amatil CEO Alison Watkins was appointed to the RBA board in December 2020 for a five-year term when she was still earning $2,178,652 a year as the head of the soft-drink bottling company Professor McKibbin, now the director of the Australian National University's Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, said the Reserve Bank should publish the individual views of each board member at each meeting to give borrowers a better idea of interest rate decision making. As a Reserve Bank board member, he was last year paid $77,620 to attend 11 board meetings plus another $22,430 to chair the RBA's audit committee Fellow board member Mark Barnaba, the deputy chair of Fortescue Metals Group, earns a base salary of $1,162,211 - based on a conversion from $US802,799 in the annual report. What a 0.5 percentage point rate rise in August would mean for you $500,000: Up $141 from $2,215 to $2,356 $600,000: Up $169 from $2,658 to $2,827 $700,000: Up $197 from $3,101 to $3,298 $800,000: Up $225 from $3,544 to $3,769 $900,000: Up $253 from $3,987 to $4,240 $1,000,000: Up $281 from $4,430 to $4,711 Increases based on Reserve Bank cash rate rising from 1.35 per cent to 1.85 per cent taking popular Commonwealth Bank variable rate from 3.39 per cent to 3.89 per cent 'Actually, they should be putting up rates a bit quicker,' Dr Tulip said.