Members of the Reserve Bank of Australia's Monetary Policy Board agreed that the country's is recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic at a faster pace than expected, minutes from the bank's Feb.2 meeting revealed on Tuesday.
The development of numerous vaccines to treat the pandemic has spurred improvement in the global economy, the minutes showed. In Australia, unemployment has fallen more than expected, while inflation remains well below the target.
The members added that stimulus is expected to be in place for an extended period of time, although negative interest rates are unlikely.
At the meeting, the RBA decided to maintain the targets of 10 basis points for the cash rate and the yield on the three-year Australian Government bond, as well as the parameters of the Term Funding Facility.
The board also decided to buy an additional A$100 billion of bonds issued by the Australian Government and states and territories when the current bond purchase program is completed in mid-April. These additional purchases will be at the current rate of A$5 billion a week.
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