Philip Lowe: Unconventional monetary policy - some lessons from overseas

Address by Mr Philip Lowe, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, to the Australian Business Economists Dinner, Sydney, 26 November 2019.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Central bank speech  | 
26 November 2019

Thank you for the invitation to address this year's Annual Dinner of the Australian Business Economists. This is the fifth time I have had the privilege of joining you. Thank you for having me back.

One recurring theme of my talks over the years has been the likelihood that interest rates will remain low for an extended period - certainly, much lower, on average, than before the global financial crisis.

This theme remains highly relevant today. As I discussed in the Sir Leslie Melville lecture at the ANU a month ago, low interest rates are not a temporary phenomenon. Rather, they are likely to be with us for some time and are the result of some powerful global factors that are affecting interest rates everywhere.