Original article by Ronald Mizen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 22-Dec-21
The minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monthly board meeting for December show that the central bank remains upbeat about the outlook for the economy. The RBA does not expect the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 to "derail" the nation’s economic recovery. However, the variant may affect the RBA’s timetable for winding back quantitative easing.
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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA
Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 8-Sep-21
Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe has warned that GDP is likely to decline "materially" in the September quarter due to COVID-19 lockdowns. However, he believes that the economy will rebound as vaccination rates increase and restrictions are eased, and growth in the December quarter will allow Australia to avoid a technical recession. The central bank left official interest rates on hold at 0.1 per cent at its September board meeting; it has also advised that its bond-buying program will be maintained at the current level until at least February 2022.
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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 15 & 20 : 4-Aug-21
The Reserve Bank of Australia has confirmed that it still intends to reduce its weekly bond-buying program from $5bn to $4bn in early September, following its latest monthly board meeting. Westpac’s chief economist Bill Evans says the decision was surprising, given that the RBA had consistently reiterated that its quantitative easing program would be guided by factors such as the economic outlook and the COVID-19 pandemic. The central bank has conceded that the economy is likely to contract in the September quarter, due to the impact of lockdowns. The RBA has also reiterated its view that the cash rate will not rise until inflation is ‘sustainably’ within its target range of 2-3 per cent.
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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC
Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 19 : 21-Jul-21
The Reserve Bank of Australia recently signalled that it will begin scaling back its bond-buying program in September, amid the nation’s stronger-than-expected economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, economists at a number of banks anticipate that the potential economic impact of the latest wave of lockdowns will prompt the central bank to delay plans to slash its bond-buying program by $1bn a week. Gareth Aird from the Commonwealth Bank says the RBA could potentially start to reduce its bond purchases in November.
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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 4-Nov-20
Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe has flagged the use of "additional monetary policy options" if necessary, after reducing the cash rate to a record low and announcing a quantitative easing program. Lowe has indicated that the cash rate will remain at 0.1 per cent for 3-5 years, while the RBA’s three-year bond rate target has also been reduced to 0.1 per cent. Meanwhile, former RBA board member John Edwards has hailed the "courageous" and "historic" decision to pursue quantitative easing. The central bank will purchase about $5bn worth of federal and state government bonds each week over the next six months.
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Original article by Sarah Turner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 18-Jun-20
The yield on three-year Australian government bonds has traded within a narrow range of 0.21 per cent to 0.28 per cent since March, when the Reserve Bank commenced a targeted bond-buying program aimed at keeping the yield at around 0.25 per cent. The success of yield curve control in Australia has prompted the US Federal Reserve to assess the strategy, although Stephen Halmarick from the Commonwealth Bank says it is unlikely to adopt this in the near-term. The Federal Reserve’s focus has been on buying a certain amount of bonds each month.
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Original article by Sarah Turner, Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 22-Apr-20
The Reserve Bank of Australia has bought $47bn worth of federal and state government bonds since 20 March. The central bank has progressively reduced its daily bond purchases from $5bn to just $500m since then, and it will now buy federal government bonds three times a week and state bonds just once a week. Meanwhile, RBA governor Philip Lowe says the Australian dollar fell more sharply than he had expected in March. It reached a low of $US0.5741 and has since recovered to around $US0.63. Lowe says the currency has been a "great shock-absorber" for the domestic economy over the last three decades.
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Original article by Sarah Turner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 15-Apr-20
Su-Lin Ong of RBC Capital Markets says the federal government has issued some $48bn worth of bonds so far in 2019-20. She estimates that the Reserve Bank of Australia has bought about $36bn worth of these government bonds in the last three weeks, as part of its quantitative easing program. Westpac’s Damien McColough notes that the central bank has emerged as one of the largest bond fund managers in the local market. Meanwhile, Ong says government bond issuance for 2019-20 could potentially top $160bn.
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RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC
Original article by Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 30 : 7-Apr-20
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s quantitative easing program commenced on 20 March, and the central bank initially began purchasing $5bn worth of commonwealth government bonds per day. It has bought some $31bn of such bonds to date, including $10bn in the week ended 3 April. The RBA has been gradually been winding back its bond buying, and Damien McColough of Westpac says that even if its current momentum is maintained it would hold about $80bn worth of government bonds by the end of June. This would constitute about 30 per cent of the government bonds on issue. The RBA has also bought some $5bn worth of state government bonds.
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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC
Original article by Matthew Cranston, James Eyers, James Frost, Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 20-Mar-20
Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe has warned that the cash rate is likely to remain at the new record low of 0.25 per cent for three years. The emergency interest rate cut on 19 March is the RBA’s first out-of-cycle move since 1997; it has coincided with the announcement of a government bond-buying program which aims to ensure that the benchmark three-year bond yield remains at around 0.25 per cent. Lowe says there will be no limit to the bond-buying program. The RBA has also announced a $90bn line of credit for banks to provide low-interest loans to small and medium enterprises; the federal government will provide an additional $15bn to small lenders to help with their funding.
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