University of adelaide and south australian health and medical research institute, Public university in Adelaide, Australia

Canberra, March 10 Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe on Wednesday said that the country's economy has performed better than expected in terms of pandemic recovery due to to virus suppression and targeted stimulus measures.In an address to the Australian Financial Review business summit, Lowe also reiterated the official interest rate would likely remain at 0.1 per cent despite concerns over increasing house prices, reports Xinhua news agency.Australia's GDP increased by 3.1 per cent in the December quarter, following a 3.4 per cent lift in the previous three months."As a result, we are now within striking distance of recovering the pre-pandemic level of output," Lowe said.The RBA Governor said the figures were far better than was forecast in August 2020, reflecting the country's success in containing the virus as well as the efficacy of fiscal and monetary policy support.One of the monetary policy measures was to drop the official interest rate to the record low of 0.1 per cent at a meeting in November 2020, which Lowe acknowledged had been partially responsible for increasing prices in the country's property market.Despite some speculation that concerns over affordable housing would put pressure on the RBA to shift the interest rate, Lowe said changing the current rate before 2024 would be unlikely."I would like to reiterate that the RBA does not target housing prices, nor would it make sense to do so," Lowe said."There are various tools, other than higher interest rates, to address these concerns, leaving monetary policy to maintain its strong focus on the recovery in the economy, jobs and wages."While many professions have been hard hit by the pandemic, Lowe said that the recovery in employment in Australia had been "V-shaped", with the unemployment rate dipping to 6.4 per cent in January.However, he warned that the downward trend in unemployment could be disrupted when the government's employment stimulus scheme, JobKeeper comes to an end in late March."There are still many people who want a job and can't find one and many others want to work more hours," Lowe said.( With inputs from IANS )Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

University Of Adelaide And South Australian Health And Medical Research InstituteFOLLOW

University of adelaide and south australian health and medical research institute, Latest News

Witnessing incredible growth since commencing business in the country, eXp India has added 150 plus real estate agents to its network across the country in just 100 days, with hundreds more agents in an active pipeline. ...

Delhi Capitals wicketkeeper-batsman Vishnu Vinod is excited to play alongside Australia batsman Steve Smith in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). ...

Australia pacer Pat Cummins has revealed that his first experience of playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2014 made him hungry for more and he also recalled the time spent with Jacques Kallis. ...

Australia and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) pacer Pat Cummins has said that playing the game professionally brings a lot of pressure with it. ...

Canberra, March 15 Australia's opposition Labor Party has taken an electoral lead over the ruling government for the ... ...

Canberra, March 15 Thousands of Australian women gathered across the country on Monday to protest against misogyny in ... ...

Canberra, March 14 Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday announced additional funding to extend the Covid-19 health ... ...

Canberra, March 10 Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe on Wednesday said that the country's economy ... ...