RBA: Will ease policy if needed to support sustainable growth

Following are the key headlines from the November RBA monetary policy statement (via Reuters):

To ease policy if needed to support sustainable growth

Will monitor developments in labour markets

Rates to remain low for extended period

Outlook for the australian economy is little changed from three months ago

Signs of a turnaround in housing market, especially in sydney and melbourne

New home construction has weakened

A gentle turning point appears to have been reached

Central scenario for underlying inflation to be close to 2 pct in 2020 and 2021

Sees underlying inflation to be a little above 2 pct in 2021

Central scenario  for economy to grow by around 2¼ per cent this year and then for growth gradually to pick up to around 3 per cent in 2021

Main domestic uncertainty continues to be the outlook for consumption

Sustained period of only modest increases in household disposable income continuing to weigh on consumer spending

Outlook for the global economy remains reasonable, the risks are tilted to the downside.

Recent outcomes suggest that the australian economy can sustain lower rates of unemployment and underemployment

Rba points to global developments, spare capacity in the economy

Global expectations of further monetary easing have generally been scaled back over the past month and financial market sentiment has improved a little.

Australian dollar is at the lower end of its range over recent times

Wages growth remains subdued and is expected to remain at around its current rate for some time yet

A further gradual lift in wages growth would be a welcome development

Unemployment to fall to a little below 5% in 2021