RBA Decision on Interest Rates (February 2020)

04 February 2020

Three interest rate cuts since the election have not been enough to turn around an economy which was slowing well before the bushfire crisis and the Coronavirus outbreak hit.

Three interest rate cuts since the election have not been enough to turn around an economy which was slowing well before the bushfire crisis and the Coronavirus outbreak hit.

The economy is floundering because Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg had a political strategy to get themselves through an election but no plan to boost wages or growth in the economy.

Interest rates are just a quarter of what they were during the depths of the Global Financial Crisis and yet the Morrison Government continues to leave all the heavy lifting to the Reserve Bank.

In his statement today, the RBA Governor noted that “The household sector has been adjusting to a protracted period of slow wages growth” which “is expected to remain at around its current rate for some time yet”.

Australians are struggling, weak consumption is being driven by stagnant wages, household debt is at record highs, almost two million Australians are looking for work or for more work, but the Liberals and Nationals have no plan to turn things around.

For too long the Prime Minister and Treasurer have recklessly left the Reserve Bank to do all the work instead of coming up with a plan to support the economy.

Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg now want us to forget that the economy was deteriorating long before the bushfires or the Coronavirus outbreak.

Because of the Morrison Government’s economic failures, Australia meets the serious challenges and uncertainties of the fire season and the Coronavirus outbreak from a position of weakness, not strength.