Morrison sees no chance of further cut in interest rates

Bloomberg

Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison said he doesn’t see much appetite for further cuts to his nation’s already record-low interest rates, while stressing that’s a decision for new central bank Governor Philip Lowe.
“From our perspective, the old pushing-against-the-string analogy is very relevant,” Morrison said in an interview at the International Monetary Fund’s headquarters in Washington. “It’s up to Phil what happens next, but I don’t detect any great sort of enthusiasm for any further easing there.”
That view gels with money markets, with traders pricing in a less than 50 percent chance the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut its cash rate from 1.5 percent through 2017. In an economy spurred by rebounding commodity prices and a diminished drag from falling mining investment, policy makers’ main challenge is reviving inflation that has slowed sharply, with a rebounding currency complicating those efforts.
Morrison, who took over as treasurer about a year ago during a national leadership change, allied himself closely with former RBA Governor Glenn Stevens as he sought to get up to speed on the economy. Lowe replaced Stevens last month and in his renewed monetary policy agreement with the government introduced a more direct link with financial stability.
Lowe also made clear he and his central bank colleagues aren’t “inflation nutters.”