Emergency OCR cut to 0.25%

The official cash rate (OCR) is 0.25 percent, reduced from 1.0 percent, and will remain at this level for at least the next 12 months.

The negative economic implications of the COVID-19 virus continue to rise warranting further monetary stimulus.

Since the outbreak of the virus, global trade, travel, and business and consumer spending have been curtailed significantly. Increasingly, governments internationally have imposed a variety of restraints on people movement within and across national borders in order to mitigate the virus transmission.

Financial market pricing has responded to these events with declining global equity prices and increased interest rate spreads on traditionally riskier asset classes.