Adam had the first word on (incoming governor, but for now) Deputy Governor Philip Lowe of the Reserve Bank of Australia's speech, here:
RBA's Kent: Likelihood of using nonconventional measures very remote
Bloomberg have a look at the speech now in their wrap up of it, with a bit more detail:
In a nutshell, Kent favours a multi-pronged stimulus approach if economic conditions deteriorated to such an extent that 'unconventional' policies were needed
On some of the extreme options:
- Balance-sheet expansion
- Kent warned buying assets such as corporate bonds involves non-trivial risks, and the RBA would want some government backing
- Negative interest rates aren't an attractive option
- Exchange-rate intervention in some form wouldn't be ruled out in an extreme scenario
There is plenty more, and more depth at the article, here
As Adam rightly pointed out, "The RBA has plenty of ammunition before it needs to use QE." Read Kent's thoughts in that light - none of this is imminent (and GDP growth is accelerating, so the likelihood of imminence is very, very low indeed).
Dr. Lowe will take over from current governor Stevens in September. Stevens will have been at it for 10+ years and has done an outstanding job through trying conditions.
