Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Border reopening won’t ease labour shortages much The full reopening of the border will prompt more Australians to make holidays overseas. The key point though is that it sends a powerful message that the worst of the pandemic is now behind us, which... 11th February 2022 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly RBA hiking cycle to start as RBNZ’s ends The RBA is coming around to the view that rates will need to be hiked this year. And our forecast that inflation will continue to surprise the Bank in the months ahead is why we think it will start... 4th February 2022 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly RBA to hike rates in August The jump in consumer prices in Q4 reflected further strong gains in the usual suspects of petrol prices and costs of new dwelling purchases. But services inflation has picked up sharply as well. With... 28th January 2022 · 8 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly RBA to hike rates this year The fall in the Australian unemployment rate to 4.2% in December means the labour market is now the tightest it has been since 2008. That all but confirms our forecast that the RBA will end its asset... 21st January 2022 · 6 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Australia’s consumer exuberance won’t last The strong rebound in consumer spending in November is consistent with our view that GDP surpassed its pre-lockdown peak in Q4 already. And while the Omicron tsunami seems to have resulted in a... 14th January 2022 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly We still expect the RBA to end QE in February Surging cases of the Omicron variant are putting Australia’s healthcare system under pressure and will weigh on consumption in Q1. But we think fresh lockdowns will be avoided. What’s more, growing... 7th January 2022 · 6 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly RBA to end asset purchases in February While the Omicron variant poses some downside risks, Australia’s labour market has all but recovered from the recent lockdowns and we think that the unemployment rate will fall faster than the Reserve... 17th December 2021 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Federal fiscal resilience masks state weakness Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will gloat when he unveils in the upcoming Mid-Year Fiscal and Economic Outlook that the federal deficit will be smaller in 2021/22 than expected despite the recent Delta... 10th December 2021 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Omicron could add to inflationary pressure If Omicron were able to evade existing vaccines, a renewed period of lockdowns would be required which would force the RBA to step up its bond purchases. Inflation would fall initially as crude oil... 3rd December 2021 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Border reopening won’t ease labour shortages much Australia’s government isn’t keen on opening the immigration floodgates once the border reopens to migrants next year and we still expect the unemployment rate to fall to 4% by 2023. Nor do we expect... 26th November 2021 · 6 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Wage growth and inflation to continue to strengthen RBA Governor Phillip Lowe doubled down on the view wage growth will remain too low to justify a rate hike anytime soon. But wages for workers on individual agreements is soaring. And we think wage... 19th November 2021 · 6 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Inflation will keep the RBA under pressure Business purchase costs in the October NAB survey rose to their strongest level since 2008, consistent with trimmed mean inflation of nearly 1.5% q/q. That probably overstates the strength in... 12th November 2021 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly RBNZ set to hike by 50bp, RBA remains the archdove The exceptional strength of New Zealand’s mean that we now think the RBNZ will hike rates by 50bps in November and by a further 100bps next year, which would take the OCR to 2.0%. That’s above the... 5th November 2021 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly RBA set to ditch yield target next week The rise in trimmed mean inflation into the RBA’s 2-3% target band for the first time in six years has only added to the aggressive repricing in the outlook for the RBA’s policy rate over the past... 29th October 2021 · 7 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Market pricing on RBA too aggressive Despite the rise in virus cases in recent weeks, strong inflation in New Zealand increases the pressure on the RBNZ to tighten policy further. While we are sticking to our forecast of a 25bp hike in... 22nd October 2021 · 6 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Plans to double migration sound good in theory The new NSW premier has received advice that Australia should double the pace of migration in the coming years to make up for lost population growth. That plan would help ease labour shortages, boost... 15th October 2021 · 5 mins read
