The Reserve Bank has raised interest rates for the 12th time in 13 months, with governor Philip Lowe warning that rates will keep rising if necessary, despite ‘significant financial pressure’. This plan has come under fire, with treasurer Jim Chalmers saying the bank’s decision was ‘difficult to understand and difficult to cop’, and Commonwealth Bank economists predicting that Australia could slide into a recession this year. Economics correspondent Peter Hannam explains why interest rates continue to rise and columnist Greg Jericho looks at whether the central bank is killing the economy