Australia's central bank needs to decide later this month whether its benchmark interest rate is at a level sufficient to restrain price pressures and return inflation to target, Governor Michele Bullock said.

"The Monetary Policy Board will meet in just over a week's time. We'll discuss our assessment of the flow of data and how the risks are unfolding," the Reserve Bank chief said in her opening statement to a parliamentary panel on Friday. "A key question is whether the tightening in monetary policy to date will be sufficient to bring inflation back to target in a reasonable time."