At its meeting today, the Board decided to lower the cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.75 per cent, effective 8 May 2013.
Some Considerations were:
• “The global economy is likely to record growth a little below trend this year, before picking up next year.
• Growth in Australia was close to trend in 2012 overall, but was a bit below trend in the second half of the year, and this appears to have continued into 2013.
• Employment has continued to grow but more slowly than the labour force, so that the rate of unemployment has increased a little, though it remains relatively low.
• Recent data on prices confirm that inflation is consistent with the target and, if anything, a little lower than expected.
• The CPI rose by 2½ per cent over the past year, and measures of underlying inflation gave a broadly similar outcome. The Bank’s forecast remains that inflation over the next one to two years will be consistent with the target.
The Board has previously noted that the inflation outlook would afford scope to ease further, should that be necessary to support demand. At today’s meeting the Board decided to use some of that scope. It judged that a further decline in the cash rate was appropriate to encourage sustainable growth in the economy, consistent with achieving the inflation target.”
If you would like to see the full decision commentary, here is the link http://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2013/mr-13-10.html
If you haven’t reviewed your home loan in the last 2 years, it’s time. Give us a call at The Home Loan Company and we’ll sort it for you.
Leave a Reply