Special Report:Global Financial Crisis
CANBERRA, Feb. 3 (Chinese media) -- The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on Tuesday cut its official cash rate by a further 100 basis points after its board meeting.
The cash rate is now 3.25 percent, the lowest level in 45 years.
RBA governor Glenn Stevens said the combination of last year's financial turmoil, a severe global downturn and substantial falls in commodity prices had led to a significant dampening effect in confidence in Australia.
"In these circumstances, the board judged that a further sizable reduction in the cash rate was appropriate, to give further support to demand," Stevens said in a statement.
The RBA has cut the rate by a massive 400 basis points since September last year in attempts to protect the economy from sinking into recession.
Earlier, the federal government said it expected economic growth to be just 1.0 percent in 2008-09, slowing to a mere 0.75 percent in 2009/10.
This is a marked downgrade from the respective forecasts of 2.0 percent and 2.25 percent made in November.
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