MNI RBA Review - October 2021: Glass Still Half-Full

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• The Bank left its monetary policy settings unchanged, as expected.
• The Bank retained its glass half-full economic assessment as it stressed that "much will depend on the nature and timing of the easing of restrictions on activity. In our central scenario, the economy will be growing again in the December quarter and is expected to be back around its pre-Delta path in the second half of next year."
• The initial round of macroprudential tightening came less than 24 hours after the RBA decision.
• Barring any surprises, monetary policy settings are effectively on hold until February '22, when the Bank is set to reconsider the scope of its bond purchases. Most of the focus in the interim period will fall on the evolution of the economy in the wake of the outlined reopening, international spill overs (namely China) and the evolution of macroprudential matters.