Australia Boosts Support

08 July 2020 by News Desk   |   SHARE  

Australia government will set out a new business and worker income support program on July 23.

The federal government is considering pulling forward billions of dollars worth of tax cuts to kick-start the economy.

Businesses are to receive another phase of financial support, beyond September when JobKeeper is due to expire.

Banks will allow people who paused their mortgage payments as an emergency measure to extend their loan deferral by up to four months if needed.

Australia Boosts Support

The Reserve Bank of Australia has kept official interest rates at 0.25 per cent amid signs shoppers are spending more on groceries even though the nation’s services sector has been badly hit.

Bank governor Philip Lowe said that while total hours worked in Australia fell in May, the decline was considerably smaller than in April and less than previously thought likely.

“There has also been a pick-up in retail spending in response to the decline in infections and the easing of restrictions in most of the country”, he said

Credit and debit card spending increased by 5.2 per cent for the week to July 3.

Household spending has stabilised at a “new normal”, with less spending on travel and entertainment but more on household goods and groceries.

Food retailing outside of supermarkets is 33 per cent up on the same week last year while in supermarkets it is 21 per cent stronger.

Before the impending shutdown of the NSW-Victorian border, spending in Victoria was behind every other state and territory.

The Commonwealth Bank reported that credit and debit card spending is up 12 per cent on a year ago with spending on food goods 26 per cent higher than for the same time in 2019.

After the recent rise in COVID-19 cases Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth says that Australia is once more on “high alert”

Australia has 148 new cases, 134 of which are in Victoria. The Australian death toll remains at 106

The global death toll from COVID-19 has passed 544,000. The number of confirmed cases is now above 11.8 million and more than 6.4 million people have recovered, according to the Johns Hopkins University

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