Australian retailers and households can breathe a sigh of relief with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) holding the cash rate at 4.35% yesterday, in its final monetary decision of the year.
Yesterday’s decision will see the cash rate paused for at least two months, with the RBA moving to an eight-meeting format next year.
At a time of immense financial pressure and hardship for most, avoiding another cash rate increase will have a positive impact on confidence, spending and retail preparations.
With inflation also showing healthy signs of moderation, we’re encouraged by economists saying that the RBA may start to reduce the cash rate at some stage in 2024.
In other news, we maintain a watching brief on the Closing Loopholes legislation, including the Government’s most recent amendments.
The ARA has continued to be vocal about this flawed process and the fact these amendments also fail to address the fundamental flaws in the legislation. Our media release is here.
We maintain our position that these proposed reforms create significant downside without any positive impacts on productivity, wages growth or job creation.
We’re also proud to announce the launch of our latest Small Retail Index, in partnership with American Express. It’s an important snapshot of how SMBs are faring across the country. You can view it here.
As we prepare ourselves for 2024, the ARA Leaders Forum in February is shaping up to be an unmissable event. Our program lineup is close to complete and has been released this week – along with a bevy of new speaker announcements. You can check out the detail here. Tickets are limited so get in fast.
Last week, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency revealed the gender pay gap continues to decline.
It is good to see the national industry average total remuneration gap has reduced to 21.7%, with the retail sector consolidating at 13.7%.
In retail, women are thriving in frontline, management and executive roles but our sector still has some work to do when it comes to female CEO’s and Board members. You can read more about WGEA’s report, here.
And finally, we have expanded our library of resources to help retailers navigate Christmas trading hours, as well as providing useful insights in how to reduce energy costs, the intersection between business and human rights, and the government’s recent announcements on cyber security. You can read more here.
