Australia keeps key rate, QE unchanged

RTTNews reports that Australia's central bank maintained its key interest rate at a record low and quantitative easing unchanged but increased the size of the Term Funding Facility.

The board of Reserve Bank of Australia, governed by Philip Lowe, decided on Tuesday, to maintain cash rate and the targeted yield on three-year government bonds of 25 basis points.

Under the expanded Term Funding Facility, authorized deposit-taking institutions will have access to additional funding, equivalent to 2 percent of their outstanding credit, at a fixed rate of 25 basis points for three years.

Today's decision to expand term funding facility would raise the total amount available under the facility to around A$200 billion.

The Board said it will maintain highly accommodative settings as long as is required and continues to consider how further monetary measures could support the recovery.

Policymakers said that economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic is not as severe as earlier expected and a recovery is now under way in most of Australia.

However, the recovery is likely to be both uneven and bumpy, with the virus outbreak in Victoria having a major effect on the Victorian economy.