RBA seen extending QE beyond April on February 2 – Reuters poll

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is likely to keep its Official Cash Rate (OCR) on hold, although it could extend its quantitative easing (QE) programme beyond April, the latest Reuters poll of 22 economists showed on Thursday.

Key findings

“All but one of the 22 economists polled by Reuters expect the cash rate to be steady at 0.1% until end-2022.

“Pension fund Host Plus expects a cash rate cut to 0.05% at the February meeting.”

“The central bank is also likely to announce an extension of its A$100 billion ($73.93 billion) quantitative easing programme, which is set to expire in April.”

“Australia's A$2 trillion ($1.53 trillion) economy likely contracted about 3% in 2020, which would be a much small decline than previous projections.”