China has announced a major rescue package to buy unsold apartments and remove restrictions for homebuyers. New Zealand’s economy is soggy, but shouldn’t expect help from a rate cut any time soon.
In our bonus deep dive interview, ANZ Chief Economist for Southeast Asia and India Sanjay Mathur analyses what labour costs across Southeast Asian economies say about their regional competitiveness and productivity.
5 things to know:
The People’s Bank of China has announced it will lend up to 300 billion yuan or US$42 billion to local governments and state-owned firms to buy unsold apartments off developers. It also removed minimum mortgage rates and cut deposit requirements for first home buyers to 15% from 20%.
ANZ Chief Economist for Greater China Raymond Yeung doubts the package will encourage many private home buyers to change their views much on the prospects for house prices in China, which have been falling for months.
Global stocks ended last week at or near record highs with investors more confident the Fed can cut once or even twice this year. ANZ Group Chief Economist Richard Yetsenga assesses the prospects.
Richard is watching the RBA closely this week for signs it considered hiking last month. It releases its minutes from its last rates decision on Tuesday.
The RBNZ is expected to hold its official cash rate at 5.5% on Wednesday and forecast an unchanged cash rate into next year, even though New Zealand’s economy is very soggy, says ANZ Senior Economist Miles Workman.
Cheers
Bernard
PS: Catch you tomorrow with a closer look ahead at the RBA’s minutes and the RBNZ’s decision. Our apologies for the late delivery today. We had a technical issue.
