FILE PHOTO: A handful of tourists stand atop the mostly deserted steps of the Sydney Opera House, where scheduled public performances have been cancelled due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Sydney, Australia, March 18, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo
May 19, 2020
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia is facing a “significant” and “unprecedented” economic contraction due to the coronavirus pandemic, though massive fiscal and monetary policy stimulus would help cushion the blow, minutes of the country’s central bank’s latest meeting showed on Tuesday.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) had on May 5 left the cash rate at 0.25% in a widely expected move and recommited to buying as much government debt as needed to keep three-year bond yields near 0.25%.
The minutes showed board members discussed a range of economic scenarios in their policy deliberations, with the baseline case for gross domestic product to fall by 10% in the first half and 6% for all of 2020.
(Reporting by Swati Pandey; Editing by Kim Coghill)
