Rate cut done deal, experts say

By: mryash on 12:46 AM

5:00 AM Friday Jun 19, 2015

 

 

 

The drought’s effect on milk production was one of the factors dragging output down. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A second interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank next month is now a done deal, economists believe, and a third is increasingly on the cards before the year is out, after the economy recorded its weakest quarterly growth for two years.

Gross domestic product grew 0.2 per cent in the March quarter, when the market consensus and central bank expected 0.6 per cent. Annual average growth slowed to 3.2 per cent from 3.3 per cent in December.
With population growth running strong, underpinned by net immigration, aggregate measures of GDP paint a more flattering picture than per capita ones. Output per capita shrank 0.4 per cent in the March quarter and grew 1.5 per cent on an annual average basis, steady on its pace during the three previous years.