RBA Running Out of Rate Cut Room

Australia’s central bank is running out of room to implement emergency stimulus measures should they be needed with interest rates at historical lows, Shadow Finance Minister Andrew Robb said.

The central bank doesn’t have “a lot of room left if there was some other unforeseen event in the world economy to make a difference,” Robb, whose Liberal-National coalition is on track to win government at the Sept. 7 election, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television today. “The Reserve Bank has been relied upon, or pressured, to do the heavy lifting in the economy for the last few years.”

Robb’s Liberal-National coalition, helmed by Tony Abbott, and Kevin Rudd’s governing Labor Party are vying for stewardship of the world’s 12th-biggest economy amid slowing growth and rising joblessness. RBA Governor Glenn Stevens has cut rates by 2.25 percentage points since November 2011 and left the benchmark at a record-low 2.5 percent today.

Bloomberg

This article is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Corporation or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. Leveraged trading is high risk and not suitable for all. You could lose all of your deposited funds.