MNI BRIEF: RBA's Lowe Confirms More QE

Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe has confirmed that the central bank will continue with its program of Quantitative Easing and will make a decision on the size and duration of more bond purchases at its July meeting.

In a speech in rural Queensland today, Lowe said the bank had "ruled out" the option of ending QE when the second AUD100 billion program concludes in September, saying QE "is one of the factors underpinning the accommodative conditions necessary for our economic recovery."

The minutes of the June RBA Board meeting, released this week, said that ending QE was likely to be "premature" but Lowe's speech today confirmed the program would continue.

Lowe said the RBA had three choices to make in July: repeating another AUD100 billion in purchases over the same time frame, scaling back the amount purchased or spreading purchases out over a longer period.

On the other major decision facing the RBA, the extension of the yield target on three year Government bonds to the series ending in November 2024, Lowe made no commitment.

He said the bank had reviewed a "range of possible scenarios" influencing this decision, which was based on the likelihood the bank would raise interest rates from the current record low of 0.10% in 2024.