CANBERRA: Finally some good news this week for Glenn Stevens, whose governorship has always emphasised the glass is half full. After almost a decade in a job which he hands over in less than two months to his deputy Phillip Lowe, the toughness of decisions he faces won’t let up until his very last day in mid-September. Tuesday’s official rate meeting, his penultimate one, will be a close-run affair, with no easy answers on offer. Stevens and his board are once again forced to balance a tricky brew of issues.
They range from addressing Australia’s sluggish inflation outlook; the need to inject more impetus into the jobs market to create more full-time work; and keeping the dollar low against the forces of offshore monetary policy experimentation.