Australia looks to be heading for quantitative easing

Australia looks like it could be the next big economy to join the quantitative easing (QE) club.

Sydney Harbour ©Alamy

Investors in the "lucky country" will need a lot of luck in 2020
(Image credit: Sydney Harbour ©Alamy)

Will Australia be the next big economy to join the quantitative easing (QE) club? Slowing growth has prompted the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the country's central bank, to cut interest rates three times this year to a record low of 0.75%. Yet with few signs of an economic revival, there is growing speculation that next year will bring more drastic measures, says David Taylor for ABC. The RBA can "probably only cut interest rates" by another 0.5% before the policy loses its effectiveness. Analysts are predicting that QE will be rolled out come the second half of next year.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.