RBA governor Philip Lowe speaks in Sydney
- Rates will only rise on further progress with jobs, inflation
- Likely that next Australian interest rate move will be up
- Progress in cutting jobless rate and lifting inflation to be gradual
- Quarterly economic forecasts are largely unchanged
- Volatility in stocks hasn't affected RBA growth outlook
- Australia does not have to tighten in "lock-step" with other central banks
- Still carefully watching high household debt levels
- Sees GDP growth a bit above 3% over next two years
- A lift in wage growth "likely to be necessary" to meet inflation goals
Well, he pretty much confirms what we knew from the RBA meeting earlier last week. But at least these are official words to put to rest that the RBA still won't be raising rates any time soon.
The risk as in the statement released last week is household consumption, and also inflation. So, look out for these two things as they will play a major role in determining whether or not the RBA will be able to raise rates without it hurting consumers.
AUD/USD hit a low of 0.7804 on this, but also from the fact that the dollar is strengthening.
