To All Future Economists.

Your ideas. Your insights. Your voice.

2025 Challenge

In Partnership with Citi

Question:

If you were members of the Monetary Policy Committee, what would you set the OCR to at the Monetary Policy Board Meeting in May?

Results:

A total of 60 students and 17 teams from various high schools across Australia participated in the 2025 NSW Monetary Policy Challenge (now the AUS Monetary Policy Challenge)

Congratulations to Baulkham Hills High School for winning!

Finalists: Baulkham Hills High School, North Sydney Boys High School, Kambala School, Sydney Grammar School and Giraween High School

The Prize

Baulkham Hills High School attended a 2-hour careers-focused session on 24 June at Citi.

This session included:

A session with Citi’s Internship Coordinator on how to improve your chances of
succeeding in intern applications.
A tour of our Markets floor by a Managing Director in our Markets Business.
A small-group session with 4 x Citi colleagues across businesses (Research,
Banking, Services) on how they got started in their careers.

Competition Format

First Round

Written Submission

Teams submit a written report detailing their Monetary Policy decision and the relevant justification behind it. The top 5 teams proceed to the Finals Round.

Example 1

Example 2

Finals Round

Presentation

Teams present live to a group of judges their Monetary Policy Decision and its justification. They will then be subjected to a short Q&A session with these judges.

Above: Judges present at the 2025 NSW Monetary Policy Challenge (now the AUS Monetary Policy Challenge)

From left to right: Josh Williamson (Chief Economist at Citi), Faraz Syed (Senior Economist at Citi), James Bond (Head of Government Affairs at Citi), Melissa Liu (Assistant Vice President at Citi) and Associate Professor Christopher Gibbs (University of Sydney).