Negative interest rates? Deflation risks mean they could be here to stay

Australia avoided quantitative easing thanks to Labor's stimulus, but for other countries it has become the norm and now more rate cuts are a possibility

Policy experiments continue to be a feature of the global economy with the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan moving official interest rates below zero. This follows the earlier radical decisions of the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England to engage in quantitative easing, which in effect dumped cash into the banking system in the hope that some of the excess money would flow to the private sector and be invested, spent and drive economic growth.

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