Australia Interest Rate

The outbreak of the Delta variant had interrupted the recovery in a manner that was more severe than expected a month earlier, minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s September policy meeting showed. "GDP was expected to decline materially in Q3; the near-term outlook resembled the downside scenario presented in the most recent forecasts," it added. Beyond Q3, members agreed that the timing and pace of the rebound in economic activity would depend largely on the lifting of restrictions in response to health outcomes. Whatever the pace of recovery, the central bank still expects to keep rates at 0.1% until at least 2024 as its struggles to lift wage growth and inflation. On bond-buying, members assessed that, on balance, tapering remained appropriate, as Australia's economy is expected to return to its pre-Delta path by mid-2022. "At $4 billion a week, the bank's bond purchase is expanding faster relative to the stock of bonds outstanding than that of many other central banks."