Jim Chalmers Appoints Melinda Cilento to Reserve Bank Board

Treasurer Jim Chalmers appointed Melinda Cilento to the Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy board on Friday. Cilento, the chief executive of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia and a former chief economist at the Business Council of Australia, will begin her five-year term on September 1, replacing Ian Harper.

Cilento was selected from a shortlist compiled by RBA Governor Michele Bullock, Treasury Secretary Jenny Wilkinson, and former Prime Minister's Department Secretary Martin Parkinson. She joins a board predominantly composed of Labor appointees, with only Bullock and Carolyn Hewson remaining from the previous Liberal government. Her first board meeting is scheduled for September 29.

The appointment occurs as the Reserve Bank of Australia maintains the cash rate at 4.35 per cent. Governor Bullock has indicated that further rate hikes remain possible depending on economic data.