Cameron Bagrie: Economist on Anna Breman being appointed the new Reserve Bank Governor

The new Reserve Bank Governor seems to tick all the boxes.  

Dr Anna Breman has been announced as the next Governor, taking over from Christian Hawkesby in December. 

She was the First Deputy Governor of Sweden’s central bank, and was selected from more than 300 candidates that were initially identified. 

Economist Cameron Bagrie told Francesca Rudkin that Breman is going to be laser focused on the key priorities, including delivering low and stable inflation. 

He says they’re going to go back to basics as the epicentre of any central bank is credibility – credibility of the framework, the governor, and the governance.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So, after scanning three hundred candidates, the Reserve Bank has
finally set on a New York governor. Doctor Anna Breman Bremen,
who has been deputy governor of Sweden's Reex Bank since
twenty nineteen, will step into the role from December. She's
the first woman to be named as governor in the
bank's ninety one year history. Have it listen to this
their ser bank should and it will remain a source

(00:25):
of strength and stability.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
For the New Zealand economy.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
And together with the board and with staff, we will
achieve this by focusing on our core mandate. Cameron Bakery,
independent economist, is with me. Now, thanks for your time
this morning, Cameron, Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Oh, good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Right, what do we know about her?

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Oh, she's got a pretty extensive CV, she's got central
bank experience, she's worked diversities. She clicks pretty well all
the boxes that you want of a credible central bank governs.
So let's go on.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Do you think this is the kind of job that
people want?

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, if the media reports are correct, there are an
awful lot of cvs that were thrown in a few
pretty high credibly candidates in New Zealand had a crack
at the job as well and best person one.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
What do you think her interest in taking the job
in New Zealanders?

Speaker 2 (01:22):
I guess if you have yes, she was repeated for
your depitty head well next layer down of management at
the risk bank, so I think most people work for
those of the jobs. Ultimately, you wanted the top job
at a central bank. Obviously New Zealand's a way way
away from where she sort of was. But yeah, the
reserve banks had a pretty esteemed institution. Obviously they've got

(01:45):
knocked around in the past of the six months in
regard to what's going on, but if you go back,
they have a look at the Reserve Bank over the
past of the thirty to thirty five years. In that
year we've had low inflation, so they've been highly credible.
They've done a very good job overall.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Cameron, how bigger mess does she have to clean up here?
What should be her priorities?

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Miss? I think is the wrong sort of word. But
if you look at obviously at the epy center of
the central Bank, they sort of got three board functions
price stability. We don't like high inflation, we're like low inflation.
We've learned that lesson very sevidly over the past a
few years, and she's come out and obviously fired a

(02:25):
couple of shots in regard that they're going to be
focused on inflation and the center of any central bank
is your credibility. So she's been straight out of the
blocks in regard to say these are what the focus
is going to be. She'll be focused on prudential supervision
and of course oversight of the pavement system. Now are
we going to see any groundbreaking changes in regard to

(02:45):
the operation of the Reserve Bank? I think the answer
is known. You know, the Reserve Bank, there's more than
the governor. The governor does not decide where interest rates are.
All the oco is going to be. It's decided buy
a committee. There's a very transparent process where we're going
to see some changes. The Reserve Bank is perhaps within culture.
So what's the space going forward?

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Okay, you don't happen to know how well Sweden is
doing economically, I mean, what does this tell us anything
about the way she might approach things here?

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Well, central bank, sweet the Central Bank had incredibly lower
interest rates and they were quite pleased to get back
into positive interest rate ciatry. But once again, she's going
to be laser focus on the key priorities because the
eb center of any central bank is credibility, and that's
credibility in the framework, that's credibility in the governor. It's

(03:40):
credibility in the governance. And when you lose a governor
and you lose a cheer within six months, you're going
to take a bit of a reputational hat. So the
Reserve Bank needs to address some of those reputational aspects
and I think it'll be ye not too fanom the
word the term because the government gets on throwing and back.
I think it's going to be getting back to good
old fashioned basics.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Thank you, yeah, Cameron Bekery. Always appreciate your thoughts. Thanks
so much for your time. For more from Early Edition
with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talks it'd be
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