SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s central bank said on Wednesday Governor Philip Lowe will hold a news conference after the Board’s July 6 meeting, in a departure from its recent procedure.
Lowe last held a news conference on the same day as the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) monthly rate decision in November after cutting the cash rate to a record low 0.1% and announcing a A$100 quantitative easing programme.
The RBA had earlier flagged the importance of the July meeting by saying it would consider then whether to retain the April 2024 bond as the target bond for its three-year yield target or to shift to the next maturity – the November 2024 bond.
Also on the Board’s agenda on July 6 is whether or not to extend the RBA’s bond purchases following the completion of the second A$100 billion ($77.29) billion of government bond buying program in September.
A third round is widely expected, albeit smaller than the A$100 billion seen in each of the first two rounds, which would represent a tapering of its ultra-loose monetary policy as the country’s economy stages a recovery after plunging into a recession last year.
Expectations of tapering gathered steam on Tuesday after the RBA removed a sentence from its statement that said the Board was ‘prepared to undertake further bond purchases.’
The RBA rate decision is expected at 0430 GMT (02.30 PM local time) on July 6 and Lowe will speak at 0600 GMT in a speech titled “Today’s Monetary Decision”, according to information on its website.
($1 = 1.2938 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Swati Pandey; Editing by Kim Coghill)
