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Sub-2% mortgages are a thing of the past. The Reserve Bank’s governor has signalled variable rates will rise sooner than previously expected, but says he doesn’t expect it in 2022.
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The Reserve Bank’s Term Funding Facility was meant to support lending during COVID. Instead the funds might be ending up in the accounts of bank shareholders.
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Australia faces economic problems down the road if three big, structural reform areas — housing affordability, the tax mix, and decarbonisation — are not addressed.
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The unemployment decline isn’t as impressive as it first appears, and wages growth remains sluggish.
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The independence of Australia’s central bank doesn’t make it infallible. It should welcome peer review.
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The last time Australia’s unemployment rate was below 5% was June 2011.
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The Reserve Bank governor’s ‘forward guidance’ risks him not adapting to changing circumstances, or undermining his credibility.
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The Reserve Bank of Australia is ready to taper off the ‘unconventional’ monetary policy measures introduced in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
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The Bank of International Settlements says technology and globalisation are the main causes of increasing inequality.
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The RBA shouldn’t be spooked into raising interest rates, but the prospect of inflation in the next few years is an important consideration for central banks around the world.
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Australia’s official unemployment rate falling to 5.5% is enough to make a treasurer dance. But we shouldn’t get too carried away.
Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Guy Debelle.
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The bank’s decision to focus on just one thing puts the onus on the government to take action to rein in home prices.
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Cash holdings jumped 17% during the crisis, most of them in the form of $50 and $100 notes.
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The New Zealand subsidiaries of major Australian banks might be highly profitable, but realising their true sale value can still be a challenge.
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Ross Garnaut’s new book Reset argues for much bolder approach to employment, debt, interest rates and basic income than is widely envisaged.
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Our continued recovery depends on how much we spend and how quickly we get the vaccine.
Governor Philip Lowe at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.
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Governor Lowe believes the unemployment rate will need to fall well below 5% before inflation climbs to the point where he needs to jack up rates.
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If the Reserve Bank had acted as it usually does, the cash rate would have dipped briefly negative in August.
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The Reserve Bank should stick to its guns. Australia’s economy still needs all the support it can get.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The government has done a good job so far, but it will have to direct future support to the Australians most likely to spend.