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RBA: Will ease policy if needed to support sustainable growth

Following are the key headlines from the November RBA monetary policy statement (via Reuters):

To ease policy if needed to support sustainable growth.

Will monitor developments in labour markets.

Rates to remain low for extended period.

Outlook for the Australian economy is little changed from three months ago.

Signs of a turnaround in housing market, especially in Sydney and Melbourne.

New home construction has weakened.

A gentle turning point appears to have been reached.

Central scenario for underlying inflation to be close to 2 pct in 2020 and 2021.

Sees underlying inflation to be a little above 2 pct in 2021.

Central scenario for economy to grow by around 2¼ per cent this year and then for growth gradually to pick up to around 3 per cent in 2021.

Main domestic uncertainty continues to be the outlook for consumption.

Sustained period of only modest increases in household disposable income continuing to weigh on consumer spending.

Outlook for the global economy remains reasonable, the risks are tilted to the downside.

Recent outcomes suggest that the Australian economy can sustain lower rates of unemployment and underemployment.

RBA points to global developments, spare capacity in the economy.

Global expectations of further monetary easing have generally been scaled back over the past month and financial market sentiment has improved a little.

Australian dollar is at the lower end of its range over recent times.

Wages growth remains subdued and is expected to remain at around its current rate for some time yet.

A further gradual lift in wages growth would be a welcome development.

Unemployment to fall to a little below 5% in 2021.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

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