Yesterday the prime minister Scott Morrison announced a second stimulus package of $66 billion to help the economy survive the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak. The federal parliament could sit for just one day today to pass the government’s stimulus measures as quickly as possible, before members of parliaments reduce meetings for social distancing purposes. […]
The economy may be in need of festive cheer but the Reserve Bank board is not expected to lower the cash rate from its current record low 0.75 per cent until after the holiday season. The Reserve Bank board is expected to hold the cash rate at a record low 0.75 per cent this week […]
Reserve Bank of Australia board members agreed back-to-back cash rate cuts were necessary to eat into spare labour market capacity, but a high participation rate and an expanding working age population means it will take “some time” to achieve the ideal jobless rate. Minutes from the RBA’s July 2 meeting show members agreed a consecutive […]
ANZ has again become the only big four bank to reduce variable mortgage rates in full following the Reserve Bank’s cash rate cut, while rivals CBA, NAB and Westpac will be passing on only part of the amount this time. ANZ was widely criticised last month when it passed on just 0.18 percentage points of […]
The Reserve Bank of Australia has cut the cash rate to a fresh record low of 1.0 per cent, reducing the cost of borrowing for two months in a row for the first time since 2012. The market had largely priced in a second straight 0.25 percentage point cut after RBA Governor Philip Lowe suggested […]
The Reserve Bank of Australia has cut the cash rate to a new record low of 1.25 per cent in a widely anticipated attempt to stimulate the economy. It is the central bank’s first move on rates since August 2016 and follows another month of weak economic data, most notably an unexpected rise in the […]
RBA statistics for April recorded the slowest annual growth in credit for mortgages since the data was first collected in the late 1970s. The growth of lending to businesses flatlined in April while personal loans retreated for the seventh month in a row and annual property credit plummeted to unprecedented lows, central bank statistics suggest. The […]
Consumer confidence fell last week as Australians’ perception of the economy at large took a sharp negative turn following the central bank’s decision not to cut the cash rate, ANZ analysts say. The ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence index slid by 2.1 per cent from the previous week, with the “time to buy a household […]
Prime Minister Scott Morrison won’t be drawn on a possible interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank, saying any reduction is a decision for the independent central bank. Financial markets see an increased likelihood of a cut in the 1.5 per cent cash rate after inflation figures released this week showed the annual rate unexpectedly […]
The Reserve Bank of Australia has announced it will keep the cash rate at the record low of 1.5 per cent. The decision at Tuesday’s March meeting marks Australia’s longest period without a rate change. The RBA’s last cut was in August 2016 and despite economic growth slowing in the second half of 2018, it […]
