As noted earlier, a couple of RBA events due today.
2300 GMT - Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Lowe
- speaking in front of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics
- will be doing so online with Sydney in lockdown
0130 GMT RBA Statement on Monetary Policy (SoMP)
- We get this 4 times a year
- will contain revisions to the Bank's forecasts.
- I'll have more to come on this separately
On Tuesday the RBA left its taper timetable intact despite widespread expectations it would defer the wind-back given the economic damage being inflicted by the extended lockdown in Sydney and sporadic lockdowns elsewhere in the country.
Yesterday Sydney (Australia's largest city) recorded its largest rise in new cases for the current wave, after 6 weeks of lockdown. Yes, six weeks in and the case count is still accelerating. Huh.
Also yesterday, Australia's second-largest city Melbourne (and the whole state, Victoria) was placed back in lockdown after a one-day jump in cases.
The RBA said in its decision on Tuesday this week that the economy has bounced back strongly after previous lockdowns, hence its decision to plough ahead with tapering. Of course, ya gotta exit lockdown before you can bounce back and as of right now an exit for Sydney seems still far away (schedule is at the end of August ... we'll see) and previously announced lockdowns for Melbourne 'for 7 days' have recently stretched on longer.
Oh, the state of Queensland is recording an accelerating case count also despite being in lockdown (scheduled to end Sunday ... again, we'll see ... I strongly suspect it'll be extended).
Oh, last year there was significant fiscal support for employers and employees. This has been replaced with a less effective package which will limit the 'bounce back' ... when we get there.
Lowe's testimony today will be online. He is in lockdown like half of Australia.
