Philip Lowe, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), has advised Australians to have a mortgage payment buffer for when interest rates inevitably rise. “Interest rates will go up. We need to be prepared for that, and people need to have buffers,” Lowe told the National Press Club on Wednesday in response to a question. “One of the things that I think will happen is interest rates will go up. I can’t tell you when, but they will go up.” He noted positively that many households were already paying off more than they were required and that faster progress towards full employment and an improved economy means interest rates will rise sooner. But Lowe was most surprised that markets were pricing several interest rate increases following the rates from the United States. “Yet our inflation rate is half that of the U.S., and labour cost growth is half that …