Guy Debelle: The Australian economy and monetary policy

Speech by Mr Guy Debelle, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, at the Australian Industry Group Virtual Conference, 22 September 2020.

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

Central bank speech  | 
22 September 2020

My talk today will cover three topics. First I will provide a perspective on the historic decline in output that both the Australian and global economies have experienced and discuss the current state of the economy. Second I will explain how the monetary policy actions the Reserve Bank has taken are working to support the Australian economy, complementing the large fiscal response. Finally I will outline possibilities for further monetary policy action should the Reserve Bank Board decide that it is warranted.

The Economic Impact of the Pandemic

The pandemic has resulted in a historic decline in output in the Australian and global economy. Graph 1 shows the GDP outcomes for a range of economies. It is a truly daunting picture in terms of the size and the synchronised nature of the declines.