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http://business.theage.com.au/bu ... -20080814-3vcl.html
The Reserve Bank is poised to cut interest rates in three weeks' time.
In the clearest indication yet that the RBA will lower rates for the first time in seven years when it meets next month, two senior Reserve Bank officials said the economy had cooled enough for it to take the heat off mortgage rates.
Deputy RBA governor Ric Battellino said the bank was in a position to cut its benchmark interest rate from a 12-year high because consumers have trimmed spending enough to cool the economy.
"We cannot wait to see a fall in inflation before we start cutting rates because by then it would be too late,'' Mr Battellino told a parliamentary committee in Sydney today.
"We try to be pre-emptive when we start tightening and pre-emptive when we start easing.''
At the same time, a new survey shows that recent reductions in petrol prices have soothed consumer fears about inflation, allowing inflationary expectations to fall back from the highest levels in 15 years.
The Melbourne Institute survey of consumer inflationary expectations shows the median inflation expectation was 4.9% in August - below the RBA's forecast of a 5% peak in December.
Mr Battellino is the latest policy maker to signal the Reserve Bank of Australia is preparing to reduce borrowing costs for the first time in seven years as evidence mounts the $1 trillion economy is cooling.
Governor Glenn Stevens said last week that he expected inflation to fall below 3% during 2010.
"We set about to bring inflation back'' within the central bank's target band of 2% to 3%, said Mr Battellino, a member of the bank's interest-rate setting board.
"We're confident we're on that path. That's why we're in a position to respond on interest rates.''
Australia's dollar fell to 86.97 US cents this morning, from 87.19 cents yesterday. The currency has dropped more than 11% against its US counterpart since reaching a 25-year high on July 16, on speculation the bank will reduce rates as soon as next month.
The two-year government bond yield was little changed at 5.82%.
The RBA's next rate decision is due on September 2.
Policy makers will to cut the overnight cash rate target by at least 25 basis points to 7% next month, according to 18 of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg last week.
Five predict a 50 basis-point reduction and seven expect no change.
Mr Battelino also told the commmittee that Australian banks were among some of the most profitable in the world because they were less exposed to bad debt.
He said that less competition was not the main reason Australian banks were more profitable.
"When we look at bank profitability, we find that Australian banks are around the top of the international range,'' he said.
"On the surface, this could indicate a lesser degree of competition than elsewhere.
"But when we look a bit deeper it seems that an important reason for the high profitability of Australian banks is their unusually low bad debt experience.''
Mr Battellino said that during the past decade, the bad debts of Australian banks had been about half the experience of overseas banks.
"This has been the result of the very strong domestic economy,'' he said.
"It is also worth noting that other Australian industries have been very profitable over this period.''
Blooomberg, AAP
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[Karen's 西點時光] 一組Dessert 的擺盤習作 (2008-8-12) Tiger_Karen 
发表于 2008-8-14 13:35
降的好啊