THE Reserve Bank has taken the unusual step of distancing itself from comments by a board member that suggested the Labor government's spending on stimulus measures had prompted the central bank to raise interest rates.
The comments were made by outgoing board member Donald McGauchie, who also said the $36 billion national broadband network rollout was pushing up interest rates.
A spokesman for the Reserve Bank insisted yesterday that Mr McGauchie was ''speaking purely in a private capacity'' and not on behalf of the central bank.
Public comments on interest rates are usually left to top Reserve Bank officials, such as governor Glenn Stevens.
Mr McGauchie's comments have highlighted the Reserve's so-called January information vacuum, with no meeting this month and with appearances by officials rare.
In November, Mr Stevens told a parliamentary committee that if it had not been for the government's fiscal spending program, the Reserve Bank would have had to take cash rates even lower than the 3 per cent during the financial crisis.
A News Ltd newspaper this week quoted Mr McGauchie as saying the Labor government's fiscal stimulus was driving inflation. The former Telstra chairman also took aim at the NBN, suggesting it was adding to distortions in the economy.
''We are subsidising industries we shouldn't be subsidising, we are spending money on fiscal stimulus and other things we shouldn't be spending money on and that means higher interest rates than we would otherwise have,'' Mr McGauchie said.
In a November appearance at a parliamentary economics committee hearing, Mr Stevens said he was reluctant to discuss the NBN as it was outside the Reserve Bank's area of expertise.
However, he noted it was ''not unreasonable to expect that more interconnectivity around the country can be a benefit to productivity''.
But much hinged on ''how much you pay to do it and how efficiently it is done'', he said.
ERIC JOHNSTON