Empower Blog Economic conditions

RBA Rates Decision – November 2009

The Reserve Bank has lifted interest rates by another 0.25% in November as they move to more sustainable cash rate levels, believing we are past the worst of the Global Financial Crisis.  The RBA believes the Australian economy has weathered the global storm well, and will be one of only a few countries that will to lead the rest of the developed ...

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RBA Rates Decision – October 2009

The Reserve Bank has lifted interest rates by 0.25% from their historical 40 year lows, due to rebounding economic outlook and change in sentiment.  The RBA believes we are past the worst of the economic downturn, yet the historically low rates were originally implemented with the view that the economy and unemployment were going to get worse than...

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RBA Rates Decision – August 2009

The Reserve Bank has once again decided to keep the cash rate on hold this month.  The cash rate remains at 3%.  The overall consensus of the market is now at the cross roads with many commentators now calling the bottom of the rate cycle. The RBA minutes of July’s meeting made mention of their belief the worst of the GFC is behind us, and mone...

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RBA Rates Decision – July 2009

The Reserve Bank has once again decided to keep the cash rate on hold this month.  The cash rate remains at 3%.  The overall consensus of the market is that the cash rate is still forecast to drop to a low of around 2.50% later this year, as it is anticipated that unemployment will rise later this year and into 2010. The recent positive econom...

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RBA Rates Decision – June 2009

The Reserve Bank chose once again to leave interest rates on hold today, leaving the cash rate at 3%. Commentators are now questioning whether the cash rate will actually get down as low as 2.5 to 2%, which is what was forecasted earlier this year. On the fixed rate side of the fence, the movement was up, with St George and Westpac both movin...

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RBA Rates Decision – May 2009

The Reserve Bank decided to keep it powder dry this month and left the cash rate on hold at 3.00%.  They are taking this neutral position in light of seeing what effect the rate cuts made earlier this year are having on the economy.  The overall consensus of the market is that the cash rate is still forecast to drop to between 2.50% and 2.00% lat...

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RBA Rates Decision – April 2009

The Reserve Bank announced today that the Cash Rate would be cut by 25 basis points to 3.00%. This decision brings rate to record lows, as Australia’s economy moves into recession, after a record period of economic growth. The big question is will the banks be passing on any of this latest cut, as they are still claiming the costs of funds ...

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RBA Rates Decision – March 2009

Today the RBA announced it will keep interest rates on hold for the month of march @ 3.25% In these interesting times it has only taken the RBA since September 2008 to drop the cash rate by 4.5%, when in the last tightening cycle it took them just under 6 years to raise the cash rates 3%, so maybe such a dramatic reduction to date is allowing th...

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RBA Rates Decision – February 2009

Following its first board meeting of the year, the Reserve Bank has slashed interest rates by 1 full basis point bringing the cash rate down to just 3.25% This is the 4th consecutive cut since September last year bringing the cash rate down a total of 3.75 basis points in just 5 months – the most dramatic drop in history. Let’s wait and s...

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