The Reserve Bank expects the economy will contract 10 per cent in the first half of this year and that there will be many reports of record declines in economic activity.

The RBA will also reduce its program of quantative easing.
“Our plan for the immediate future is to schedule any bond auctions we conduct for three days each week Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. That does not mean that we will necessarily purchase bonds on each of these days.
He insisted the RBA’s involvement in the bond markets was not directly about financing massive government stimulus.
“Our actions should not be confused with the Reserve Bank financing the government. “While we are not directly financing the government, our bond purchases are affecting the market price that the government pays to raise debt.
Dr Lowe said the economy could begin its bounce-back in the September quarter and for that bounce-back to strengthen from there.
“Whatever the timing of the recovery, when it does come, we should not be expecting that we will return quickly to business as usual. Rather, the twin health and economic emergencies that we are experiencing now will cast a shadow over our economy for some time to come.”
“In the months ahead, we are likely to lose some businesses, despite best efforts, and some of these businesses will not reopen.”
Dr Lowe said the crisis would have reverberations through our economy for some time to come and that the best way of dealing with these reverberations was to “reinvigorate the country’s growth and productivity agenda.”
“As we look forward to the recovery, there is an opportunity to build on the cooperative spirit that is now serving us so well to push forward with reforms that would move us out of the shadows cast by the crisis.”
Dr Lowe said various reports had already outlined where such reforms could take place.
“I think we start off by reading the multitude of reports that have already been commissioned on this issue and perhaps I could run through it for you at a very high level what those reports say.”
“They say we should be looking again at the way we tax income generation, consumption and land in this country. They say we should be looking at how we build and price infrastructure.”
“They say we should be looking at how we train our students and our workforce so they’ve got skills for the modern economy. They say we should be looking at how various regulations promote or perhaps hinder innovation. And they say we should be looking at the flexibility and complexity of our industrial relations system.”
“I don’t want to advocate for particular policies at the moment within each of those areas, but there is plenty of advice out there from various other bodies and in these reports that have been commissioned.”