Australia's official interest rate on hold at 0.25 percent
Source: Xinhua | 2020-10-07
The officials of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) have kept the national interest rate on hold at 0.25 percent following a monthly board meeting on Tuesday.
The decision came just hours before a highly-anticipated federal government budget was due to be handed down in Canberra.
While consensus was that the RBA would not move interest rates ahead of the federal budget, there was some expectation that a move to 0.1 percent was possible before the end of the year.
Fuelling the speculation was a speech given by RBA Deputy Governor Guy Debelle on Sept. 22, when he said the central bank would assess various options for moving through the COVID-19 pandemic, including negative interest rates.
The official interest rate has remained at a record low of 0.25 percent for the past seven months since being slashed at an emergency meeting in March as the COVID-19 pandemic spread to Australia.
RBA Governor, Philip Lowe said that the global recovery from COVID-19 was largely on track, if uneven, and that financial conditions remained supportive of that.
"The global economy is gradually recovering after a severe contraction due to the pandemic. However, the recovery is uneven and its continuation is dependent on containment of the virus," Lowe said.
"While infection rates have declined in some countries, they have increased in others. The recovery is most advanced in China, where conditions have improved substantially over recent months."
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