SYDNEY :Australia's central bank on Tuesday cut a key interest rate to its lowest level in nearly half a century amid signs that the economy is continuing to deteriorate.
The Reserve Bank of Australia cut its benchmark cash rate by 25 basis points to 3 percent, its lowest level since March 1960. The bank has so far slashed 425 basis points from the cash rate since September in a bid to stop the country from slipping into its first recession in nearly two decades.
In his policy statement, the central bank governor, Glenn Stevens, said that although there were signs of continued weakness in the global economy, considerable injections of fiscal spending "should help contain the downturn" over the rest of the year.
"There are tentative signs of stabilisation in several countries, including China, though it is too early yet to judge how durable these will prove to be," he said.
Last week, the bank's deputy governor, Ric Battellino, said Australia's economy will contract this year for the first time since 1991 as the global recession saps demand for mineral exports.
Unemployment data has also gone from bad to worse. The Australia & New Zealand Banking Corp. said Monday that job advertisements in newspapers and on the Internet had dropped 8.5 percent from February, and a staggering 44.6 percent from the year before. It warned that unemployment could exceed 8 percent by next year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/business/global/ 07iht-ozrates.html?_r=1