Aus central bank forecasts economic, employment rebound

As the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) reckons with rising unemployment indicators, the central bank's Governor Philip Lowe on Tuesday expressed optimism for an end-of-year rebound.
In his monthly statement, Lowe said the bank would continue its "highly supportive monetary conditions to achieve a return to full employment in Australia and inflation consistent with the target", reports Xinhua news agency.

Interest rates were held at their record low of 0.10 per cent, and the bank has stuck to its A$4 billion ($2 billion) weekly bond buying program.

Australian banking group ANZ forecasted on Tuesday that Australia's unemployment rate, currently measured at 4.5 per cent, would rise above 5 per cent later this year based on data from job advertisements, which showed a decline in job vacancies for the third consecutive month.

Lowe expected this trend to begin turning around as hours worked pick up in October and November as cities begin to lift restrictions.

"In our central scenario, the economy will be growing again in the December quarter and is expected to be back around its pre-Delta path in the second half of next year."

He dispelled fears that inflation would begin to impact goods prices across Australia.


"While disruptions to global supply chains are affecting the prices of some goods, the impact of this on the overall rate of inflation remains limited - IANS