The RBA just helped Taylor Swift make history again

Two days after making history by becoming the first artist to win Album of the Year four times at the Grammys, Taylor Swift has notched yet another first thanks to the Reserve Bank of Australia.
A close up of a woman smiling and posing for the camera.
Taylor Swift was used to illustrate a question about services inflation asked at the Reserve Bank of Australia’s post-rates decision press conference. Source:

She made history at the Grammys, and now just two days later, Taylor Swift has done it again – becoming the first artist to be referenced at the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) post-rates meeting press conference.

It came as RBA governor Michele Bullock held the inaugural news conference after the central bank left rates on hold 4.35 per cent at its first board meeting of the year — a move that came after the latest quarterly data showed inflation continued to cool. It does, however, remain above the RBA’s target band of 2-3 per cent.

The RBA signalled in its post-meeting statement that it is particularly concerned by services inflation, saying that while goods price inflation came in below its November forecasts, services price inflation “declined at a more gradual pace” and “remains high”. It also noted “services price inflation has remained persistent” overseas and that “the same could occur in Australia”.

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Nine newspapers’ economics reporter Shane Wright used Swift to illustrate a question on how rate hikes impacted services inflation.

“How do interest rate rises affect services inflation, be it insurance, legal fees, or Taylor Swift tickets?,” Wright asked Bullock, after saying “Taylor Swift inflation” had hit his family last night after his daughters “tapped the bank of mum and dad” for help purchasing “newly announced releases”.

“Yes, I know all about Taylor Swift inflation,” Bullock said.

Bullock continued by explaining services inflation was tricky to tackle. Monetary policy (like rate movements) can impact demand and thus good inflation, she said, but it didn’t directly impact services inflation.

“But it can indirectly impact because these sorts of costs go into business costs … and to the extent that demand is tempered, it tempers the ability of them to pass on costs,” she said.

She added: “On Taylor Swift tickets — I’d say that, from my own experience, my kids … forewent other things in order to be able to afford Taylor Swift. So I think people are deciding what’s really important to them and what’s not as important to them. Clearly, for a lot of people, Taylor Swift is very important.”
A woman in a light blue suit looks forward as she speaks into a microphone.
Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock delivered the central bank’s first-ever, post-rates announcement press conference.
Bullock also told reporters she was keeping her options open on interest rate movements both up and down and remains alert to economic risks on the horizon.

“Nothing’s in, nothing’s out,” Bullock said during the first-ever post-meeting media conference.

Asked if inflation was heading sustainably back within the 2-3 per cent band, she said Australia was “potentially” still on the narrow path to a soft landing.

This refers to a situation where inflation is brought under control while the economy keeps growing.

The news conference – a new edition to the post-meeting regime designed to inject more transparency into the bank’s operations – fleshed out communications in a statement issued by the board.