17 Facts About Philip Lowe

Philip Lowe was born on 4 October 1961 and is an Australian economist and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, from September 2016 to September 2023.

Philip Lowe was deputy governor under Glenn Stevens from February 2012 to September 2016.

Philip Lowe attended St Michael's High School and Trinity Senior High School.

Philip Lowe was initially employed as a clerical worker in 1980 at the age of 17, while completing his undergraduate commerce degree at the University of New South Wales by attending night classes.

Philip Lowe was awarded first-class honours and the University Medal on his graduation in 1985.

Philip Lowe later completed a doctorate in 1994 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with Paul Krugman as his adviser.

In 1997, Philip Lowe was appointed head of the RBA's Economic Research Department.

Philip Lowe later headed the bank's Financial Stability Department, the Domestic Markets Department, and the Economic Analysis Department.

From 2000 to 2002, Philip Lowe worked at the Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland, as head of its Financial Institutions and Infrastructure Division.

Philip Lowe was made Assistant Governor at the RBA in 2004, and Assistant Governor in 2009, eventually becoming Deputy Governor in 2012.

In May 2016, Scott Morrison announced that Philip Lowe would succeed Glenn Stevens at the head of the RBA at the end of his term in September 2016.

The report noted that Philip Lowe was responsible for trading losses of between AU$30 billion and AU$58 billion as a result of the RBA's bond purchase program and term funding facility.

Philip Lowe has attracted controversies for a number of his comments during his tenure as Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

At the Australian Financial Review business summit in 2021, Philip Lowe indicated that the RBA would not raise the Official cash rate until 2024 but this decision was changed in May 2022 when the cash rate target was raised by 0.25 percentage points.

In May 2023 during an Australian Senate Economics Legislation Committee hearing, Philip Lowe suggested that the housing market was one of the biggest drivers of the Consumer price index that has contributed to Inflation and to reduce demand, people should be sharing more dwellings or living with their parents for longer which attracted controversy on social media and media sources.

On 7 June 2023 at the Morgan Stanley Australia Summit in Sydney following another OCR rise, Philip Lowe said people should reduce spending and find additional work to maintain the cost of living which attracted similar attention to previous comments.

Philip Lowe met his wife, Jocelyn Parker, who works at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, while working at the RBA.