Under the parliamentary spotlight for three and a half hours, RBA governor Phillip Lowe made several admissions.
The last time he was before a parliament committee, the world was vastly different.
Now Russia has invaded Ukraine sending economic shockwaves across the globe, inflation is spiralling across the US, and Europe and interest rates in Australia are rising at their sharpest levels in decades.
Philip Lowe says the overall outlook isn't positive.
"The US has got significant issues because they've got to get inflation down, Europe the declining real income for households is a very major issue, and in china the housing market problematic, so put that altogether and the outlook for the global economy next year is weak."
KPMG Economist Sarah Hunter also says that there have been many external issues impacting the bank's decision making.
"They're not the only central bank in the world that's facing these kinds of pressures right now. And I think that actually, is partly because some of what we're seeing is, you know, to a large extent beyond their control, clearly what's happening in Ukraine, and the the disruption that that's had on commodity prices this year, the ongoing challenges around supply chains and COVID in China, and the impact that solid manufacturing prices are so not really in the RBAs control."
