Australian national accounts data showed that private consumption growth edged up only modestly in Q4. What's more, timely data suggest that it could actually soften again this quarter. However, despite the lacklustre outlook for consumer spending, we still believe that the RBA will have only limited room to loosen policy settings this year. Elsewhere, we learnt that Adrian Orr unexpectedly stepped down as the Governor of the RBNZ. Our baseline view is that a change at the helm of the central bank won't alter the outlook for monetary policy, but there are risks to this assumption.
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