The Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock, on Tuesday delivered a miserable assessment of the Australian economy by suggesting the best it can do is 2% growth per year – a rate well below the long-term average and a pace that almost guarantees unemployment will rise.
On Tuesday morning, there was essentially no expectation of a rate rise. The market had been forecasting rates staying at 4.35% ever since the April inflation figures showed a drop in the annual rate from 4.6% to 4.2% followed by unemployment rising to 4.5%:
