Data Extraction

No amount/estimate: April, To support liquidity, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will conduct one-month and three-month repo operations daily until further notice.

No amount/estimate: May, To assist with the smooth functioning of Australian capital markets, the RBA has broadened the range of eligible collateral for open market operations to include securities issued by non-bank corporations with an investment grade.

No amount/estimate: April, The exchange rate has been allowed to adjust flexibly to absorb economic shocks.

(i) April, The government is allocating up to AUD15 billion to invest in residential mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities to help funding for small banks and non-bank financial institutions; (ii) April, To allow banks to lend more to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) during the period of disruption caused by COVID-19, RBA has established a Term Funding Facility (TFF) of at least AUD90 billion for SMEs lending (TFF will offer three-year funding to authorized deposit-taking institutions [ADIs]).

No amount/estimate: (i) March 3 and 19, The policy rate was cut by 25 basis points twice to 0.25% and on May 5 and June 2, the RBA announced that it will maintain the current rates; (ii) April, The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has (a) provided temporary relief from its capital requirement, allowing banks to utilize some of their current large buffers to facilitate ongoing lending to the economy as long as minimum capital requirements are met, and (b) March 30, announced that it is deferring its scheduled implementation of the Basel III reforms in Australia by one year to January 2023.

April, Under a new Coronavirus SME Guarantee Scheme, the Government will guarantee 50% of new loans issued by eligible lenders to SMEs with total lending capacity of AUD40 billion.

(i) March 11, The Australian Government has unveiled a comprehensive AUD2.4 billion health package to protect all Australians, including vulnerable groups such as the elderly, those with chronic conditions and Indigenous communities, from the coronavirus (COVID-19); (ii) March 21, The National Cabinet announced additional funding of AUD444.6 million for the aged care sector to ensure the continuity of the aged care workforce. May 5, The Australian Government is providing an additional AUD205 million in specific COVID-19 aged care funding; (iii) March 29, A safety net package of AUD1.1billion has been announced by the Prime Minister to expand mental health and tele-health services, increase domestic violence services and provide more emergency food relief; (iv) April 15, AUD3 million further funding to support frontline health workers with training and information on the treatment of coronavirus; (v) May 15, The government announced AUD48.1 million funding for the National Mental Health and Wellbeing Pandemic Response Plan; (vi) May 25, An additional AUD20 million is announced for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Research; (vii) May 29, The Commonwealth will invest an estimated AUD131.4 billion in the new 2020‑25 National Health Reform Agreement to provide additional funding to public hospitals over five years from 2020–21 [update].

Three economic stimulus packages, i.e. (i) Support for individuals and households including (a) income support for individuals (AUD14,133 million), (b) payment to support households (AUD8,830 million), (c) temporary early release of superannuation (AUD1,150 million), (d) No amount/estimate, temporarily reduce superannuation minimum drawdown rates, (e) lower the social security deeming rates (AUD876 million); (ii) Support for business including (a) JobKeeper payment (AUD70,000 million), (b) boosting cash flow for employers (AUD31,900 million), (c) No amount/estimate, temporary relief for financially distressed businesses, (d) increasing the instant asset write-off (AUD700 million), (e) backing business investment (AUD3,200 million), (f) supporting apprentices and trainees (AUD1,265 million), (g) support for Coronavirus affected regions and communities (AUD1,000 million), (h) support for Australian airlines and airports (AUD715 million); (iii) April 2, The Commonwealth government has committed to provide free childcare to around one million families and announced targeted support to the education system. The sector is expected to receive AUD1.6 billion over the coming three months from taxpayer subsidies. On May 20, the Ministry of Education announced an additional AUD12.8 million in funding, i.e. (a) AUD12 million provided for child care services that have more than 30% of full-time equivalent staff ineligible for JobKeeper Payments, and (b) AUD800,000 to increase the level of funding for in-home care providers; (iv) June 4, The government announced a HomeBuilder program offering AUD25,000 grants to new home builders and renovators from June 4 to December 31, 2020. HomeBuilder will be implemented via a National Partnership Agreement, signed by the Commonwealth and State and Territory governments and is expected to cost AUD680 million [update]; (v) June 8, The government announced that it will resume the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) to support families to access affordable child care starting July 13 and will pay approximately AUD2 billion this quarter to eligible families [update].

(i) April, The RBA has announced yield targeting on 3-year government bonds at 0.25% through purchases of government bonds in the secondary market. On May 5, RBA has purchased AUD50 billion of Australia Government securities (AGS) and semis in the secondary market; (ii) May 5 and June 2, the RBA announced that it will maintain the current policy setting.

March 20, RBA has established a swap line with the United States (US) Federal Reserve for the provision of US dollar liquidity in amounts up to USD60 billion. Amount oustanding as of June 11, 2020: USD1.17billion.

May 29, The Australian Government’s Partnerships for Recovery policy is redirecting over AUD280 million from the existing development program to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

March: (i) Travel restrictions, screening travelers who arrive in Australia and ensuring they self-isolate on arrival, continuing with border surveillance; (ii Enforcing social distancing measures, testing people suspected of the disease, and isolating people with the virus and their close contacts; (iii) Increasing of health system capacity; (iv) Delivering support to Australians experiencing domestic, family, and sexual violence due to the fallout of coronavirus; (v) Putting limits on some prescription and over the counter medications, to make sure those who need them can access them; (vi) April 26, The COVIDSafe app is available for voluntary download to speed up contacting people exposed to coronavirus [update]; (vii) May 8, The National Cabinet will consider the first phase of easing COVID-19 restrictions. Some states and territories have begun easing selected regional restrictions.

No amount/estimate: The Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) has declared readiness to supply sufficient cash to banks, ATM operators, and the economy in response to increased withdrawals. Working hours were extended to meet the increased demand.

EUR9 billion in credit guarantees.

No amount/estimate: Austrians are allowed to defer interest payments on bank loans. June 2, Extended the loan deferrals available for private and micro-enterprises by four months, which allows beneficiaries to defer repayment obligations for principal or interest payments without suffering legally. [update]