RBA Says `Very Accommodative' Policy Apt, Aussie a Hindrance
- Data suggest economy had continued to grow at `moderate pace'
- RBA reiterates long-standing easing bias in place if needed
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Australia’s central bank said “very accommodative” policy is appropriate given low inflation and reaffirmed the currency’s strength could complicate the economy’s rebalancing away from mining.
The Reserve Bank of Australia, in minutes of its April 5 meeting where interest rates were left unchanged at a record-low 2 percent, noted the economy’s 3 percent expansion in 2015 was better than forecast and “broadly consistent” with last year’s improved jobs market. It said recent data suggested the economy “had continued to grow at a moderate pace” in early 2016.
Still, the central bank reiterated on Tuesday that “continued low inflation would provide scope to ease monetary policy further, should that be appropriate to lend support to demand.”