澳元下个月可能再次加息

	More increases on the way By Sid Marris November 6, 2003 HOMEOWNERS will face further interest rate rises - probably as early as next month - after the Reserve Bank yesterday warned the unsustainable growth in lending justified a surprise 0.25 percentage point increase in official rates. Improving world economic conditions, strong local economic growth and a hint that inflation may rise in the long term meant rates no longer had to stay at "mildly expansionary" levels. But the massive growth in credit, including home borrowing rising at 22.5 per cent a year, meant there was now no time to delay, the bank said as it announced an official rate of 5 per cent or a standard variable home loan rate of 6.82 per cent. "That is a much faster rate of growth than can be expected to be consistent with economic stability over the longer run," Reserve Bank governor Ian Macfarlane said. "Short periods of rapid credit growth have not typically been a major concern for monetary policy, but this growth has been sustained for some time and at present shows no sign of abating. "Given the above, the board's view is that it is no longer prudent to continue with such an expansionary policy stance. The strength of demand for credit increases the danger associated with delaying a tightening of policy that is called for on general macroeconomic grounds." The rise adds about $30 a month to repayments on an average $190,000 loan. If rates rise another half a percentage point over the next six months, as expected by most economists, payments on such a mortgage will go up $95 a month. Australia is the first advanced economy to begin raising interest rates since last year's recession in the US. The dollar surged half a cent to US71.18c on the news, while the stock market fell sharply, with banks taking the biggest hit. Treasurer Peter Costello said the improvement in local and international economic conditions was welcome. But he was more cautious about the outlook for the US and Japan - in comments suggesting the Howard Government did not believe further rises should be rushed. Mr Costello said the world recovery was "faltering" and the breaking of the drought had not been "uniform". The rate rise pushed the economy to the front of the political debate in parliament yesterday as Mr Costello and Opposition spokesman Mark Latham locked horns over the implications. Mr Costello said a family with an average mortgage was still paying $595 a month less in repayments than when the Coalition took office in 1996. "You are still on a low mortgage interest rate," he said. "But I say to people and I have said this over and over again, if you are taking out a mortgage it's a 25-, 30-year thing and you can't expect something that is at 30-year lows to not move over the course of a mortgage." But Mr Latham said growing house prices meant ordinary families were now forced to borrow much more to survive lifting the repayment for the average new mortgage from $922 a month in 1996 to $1277 a month now. "John Howard and Peter Costello's arrogant and complacent response to the interest rate rise shows the Howard Government is out of touch with the reality of Australian family budgets," he said. Mr Latham called for national regulation of real estate agents as the first step in taming the investor-driven borrowing boom. Business, mining and farm groups attacked the move, accusing the bank of exceeding its mandate by raising rates when inflation was under control. "There are simply no clear signs that the 2-3 per cent band is going to be breached in the near or medium term," Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Peter Hendy said. Westpac global head of economics Bill Evans said the tough language in the bank's statement announcing the move meant unless there was a dramatic change in the next four weeks another rise in December was likely. The Housing Industry Association claimed the rise would hurt first home buyers. The Australian

	你贴错地方了，这是日圆版块。

	所以市场预期看好澳元。