The Reserve Bank of Australia has historically relied only on setting interest rates to stimulate or slow down the economy.Credit:AAP
The rare step could include purchasing government securities,providing longer-term funding to banks to support credit creation,purchasing private sector assets and foreign exchange intervention to stave off the threat of recession.
The RBA has historically relied only on setting interest rates to stimulate or slow down the economy and the minutes show it will consider cutting further from arecord-low 1 per cent if the situation does not improve.
The minutes noted that"a package of measures tended to be more effective than measures implemented in isolation",and that it"was important for the central bank to communicate clearly and consistently about these measures".
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In a sign that board members,including RBA governor Philip Lowe,Treasury secretary Philip Gaetjens and businesswoman Catherine Tanna,were increasingly concerned about China's slowing economic growth,the minutes noted that further escalation in the $US300 billion trade dispute with the US presented a downside risk to the entire region.
"Uncertainty about how these disputes would play out and how effective domestic policy measures would be in supporting Chinese demand continued to be an important consideration for the global growth outlook and,from an Australian perspective,the future demand for steel and bulk commodities,"the board said.
Domestically,the minutes showed the RBA believes the housing market may have bottomed on the back of its recent interest rate cuts.