Glenn Stevens
7th Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia
Incumbent
Assumed office  18 September 2006
Nominated by	Peter Costello
Preceded by	Ian Macfarlane
Born	23 January 1958 (1958-01-23) (age 51) Sydney, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Alma mater	B.Ec. (Hons), University of Sydney M.A., University of Western Ontario
Profession	Economist

Glenn Robert Stevens (born 23 January 1958) is an Australian economist and the current Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Stevens was born in Sydney in 1958. He was educated at the University of Sydney from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Economics with first class honours in 1979. He subsequently obtained a Masters degree from the University of Western Ontario.

After holding various positions in the Bank prior to 1990, he accepted a position as Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Subsequently, Stevens held positions as Head of the Economic Analysis Department, the Head of the International Department, and was Assistant Governor (Economic) from 1996 to 2001, prior to his appointment as Deputy Governor in December 2001.

He replaced Ian Macfarlane who retired in September 2006, after 10 years as governor of the Reserve. Stevens is committed to the style of operation of the Reserve established under Ian Macfarlane; the independence of the Reserve, the 2-3% inflation target over the course of the economic cycle, and the accountability of the Reserve when the decision is made to change interest rates.^{[citation needed]}

Stevens is serving a 7 year term, which started on 18 September 2006.

Early in 2008 Stevens announced an official interest rate rise by 50 basis points, predicting ongoing inflation pressures. This drew strong criticism from The Daily Telegraph newspaper.^[1][2][3][4] As the Global financial crisis of 2008–2009 progressed, Stevens announced large cuts to the official rate. It was discovered that high interest rates had contributed to halting economic growth in September^[5]. By the end of 2008, the Reserve Bank board, chaired by Stevens, had cut interest rates a total of 300 basis points, returning them to mid-2002 levels.^[6]

[edit] Personal life

Stevens is a committed Christian, and plays the guitar at his local Baptist Church. He has spent most of his life living in the Sutherland Shire. He is also a recreational pilot with Commercial Pilot License (CPL) and Command Instrument Rating (CIR). He owns a Piper PA-34 Seneca.

[edit] References

1. ^ RBA Media Releases 2008
2. ^ Rates will stay high: RBA chief Glenn Stevens The Australian, 14 June 2008
3. ^ Is he Australia's most useless?
4. ^ Biography of a bank
5. ^ Reserve Bank rate rises smashed economy The Australian, 4 December 2008
6. ^ RBA does not rule out January rate cut

[edit] External links

• Biographical Summary of Glenn Stevens on the Reserve Bank of Australia's website
• Transcript of Glenn Stevens' speech on economic conditions and prospects 2006 Address to the Australian Business Economists and the Economic Society of Australia (NSW Branch) Annual Forecasting Conference Dinner.

Preceded by Ian Macfarlane

Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia 2006 - present

Succeeded by Incumbent