Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly RBA QE to involve volume rather than yield target The minutes of the latest meeting all but confirmed that the Reserve Bank of Australia will launch quantitative easing at its upcoming meeting in November. While we previously argued that the RBA... 23rd October 2020 · 6 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly More QE on the horizon RBA Governor Lowe announced this week that the Bank will keep rates on hold until actual inflation, rather than expected inflation, was sustainably in the 2-3% target band. And he also argued that the... 16th October 2020 · 6 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Fiscal stimulus now, monetary stimulus in November This week’s Australian Budget injected another huge dose of fiscal stimulus. Some of the measures may not be quite as effective as those in earlier rounds of stimulus but taken together Australia’s... 9th October 2020 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Chinese demand for iron ore supporting recovery Australia has been one of the few beneficiaries of the strong rebound in China’s economy which has contributed to the recent strengthening of the Australian dollar. Admittedly, we expect the price of... 2nd October 2020 · 6 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly RBA will cut rates and step up QE in October Recent data from Victoria show that the second lockdown has not curbed activity as much as we had anticipated. We are therefore revising up our Q3 GDP forecast. Even so, the economic outlook remains... 25th September 2020 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Labour market looking up The unemployment rate fell in Australia in August despite the lockdown in Victoria. The phasing out of JobKeeper is threatening some jobs, particularly those people in Victoria still not working their... 18th September 2020 · 6 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Indefinite lockdown will hamper rebound The lockdown in Melbourne will be extended into Q4 and only lifted if virus cases are brought down sharply. With retail stores set to remain closed until at least late October the weakness in... 11th September 2020 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Withdrawal of policy support a headwind to activity With a record plunge in output, Australia entered its first recession in 29 years last quarter. Huge public support payments resulted in an increase in both corporate profits and household income and... 4th September 2020 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Economy may have kept growing in Q3 The modest fall in private investment and the continued surge in retail sales set a high bar for economic activity in Q3, when tough restrictions will have resulted in a slump in consumption and... 28th August 2020 · 7 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Risk to overall trade from China is limited China has launched an anti-dumping investigation into Australian wine imports which could result in costly tariffs on Australian wine before long. But the bulk of Australia’s exports to China are LNG... 21st August 2020 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Unemployment to rise in both countries Australian employment rose in July but more timely data suggest it may have started to decline since then. That makes sense given the renewed and tighter lockdown in Melboune. And we expect further... 14th August 2020 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Implications of Victoria’s strict lockdown The state of Victoria isn’t getting its virus outbreak under control and imposed draconian restrictions on economic activity this week. These will of course undermine the recovery, but they also mean... 7th August 2020 · 7 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Weak labour market to keep price pressures subdued Weekly payroll data suggest that the recovery in employment has started to go into reverse and we now expect the unemployment rate to climb to 8.5% in Q3. We believe that the huge amount of slack in... 30th July 2020 · 7 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Additional stimulus will be necessary before long Retail sales rose further above its pre-virus level in June. But we think overall consumption is still below its pre-virus level, and the new outbreaks should see retail sales decline in the coming... 24th July 2020 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Budget update to reveal severe deterioration The government’s Budget update on Thursday is set to reveal a marked deterioration in the fiscal accounts, largely due to huge fiscal support measures. Most of that spending is set to expire in... 17th July 2020 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Victoria’s lockdown will slow recovery Melbourne's six-week lockdown will of course prevent a noticeable rebound in economic activity in Victoria in the third quarter. Cases elsewhere remain low and the closure of the border between New... 9th July 2020 · 6 mins read
