SYDNEY, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- As the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) reckons with rising unemployment indicators, RBA governor Philip Lowe touted optimism for an end-of-year rebound.
In Tuesday's monthly statement, Lowe said the bank would continue its "highly supportive monetary conditions to achieve a return to full employment in Australia and inflation consistent with the target."
Interest rates were held at their record low of 0.10 percent, and the bank has stuck to its 4 billion Australian dollars (about 2.9 billion U.S. dollars) weekly bond buying program.
Australian banking group ANZ forecasted on Tuesday that Australia's unemployment rate, currently measured at 4.5 percent, would rise above 5 percent later this year based on data from job advertisements, which showed a decline in job vacancies for the third consecutive month. "So far, employment losses have been concentrated in New South Wales but employment is likely to fall heavily in Victoria in September," said ANZ senior economist Catherine Birch.
"But we think measured unemployment is unlikely to peak until after restrictions have eased, as it did last year."
Lowe expected this trend to begin turning around as hours worked pick up in October and November as cities begin to lift restrictions.
"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."
He dispelled fears that inflation would begin to impact goods prices across Australia.
"While disruptions to global supply chains are affecting the prices of some goods, the impact of this on the overall rate of inflation remains limited." Enditem
