Headline points from the Minutes via Reuters
- board is committed to maintaining highly supportive monetary conditions.
- board is prepared to be patient
- emergence of the omicron variant was a new source of uncertainty, but it was not expected to derail the recovery
- three possible options for the bond purchase program
- inflation had increased, but remained low in underlying terms
- options reflected the expectation that the economy would continue to bounce back
- if there were another serious economic setback, a different set of options would need to be considered.
- only gradual, pick-up in underlying inflation was expected
- risk to the recovery posed by the omicron variant would be more apparent by Feb meeting
On that '3 possible options' point, Governor Lowe spoke to this last week:
- RBA Governor Lowe repeats that in no hurry to raise interest rates
- RBA Gov. Lowe says not his job to target high house prices, higher rates not the solution
