Westpac’s video which compared its extra interest rate rise to the cost of bananas has been removed from the website.
Originally the video was produced to offer a simple explanation of the global financial crisis to their employees, but the bank then sent it in an email to customers – who labelled patronising and insensitive.
The seven-and-a-half-minute cartoon begins with the words ‘Once Upon A Time.’ and shows a tropical storm decimating a banana plantation. The email was dispatched after the bank increased its variable mortgage rate by nearly twice as much as Australia’s Federal Reserve raised interest rates.
The Board decided to raise the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.25 per cent, effective 7 October 2009.
The global economy is resuming growth. With economic policy settings likely to remain expansionary for some time, the recovery will likely continue during 2010 and forecasts are being revised higher. The expansion is generally expected to be modest in the major countries, due to the continuing legacy of the financial crisis. Prospects for Australia’s Asian trading partners appear to be noticeably better. Growth in China has been very strong, which is having a significant impact on other economies in the region and on commodity markets. For Australia’s trading partner group, growth in 2010 is likely to be close to trend.
Sentiment in global financial markets has continued to improve. Nonetheless, the state of balance sheets in some major countries remains a potential constraint on their expansion.
Economic conditions in Australia have been stronger than expected and measures of confidence have recovered. Some spending has probably been brought forward by the various policy initiatives. As those effects diminish, these areas of demand may soften somewhat. Some types of capital spending are likely to be held back for a while by financing constraints, but it now appears that private investment will not be as weak as earlier expected. Medium-term prospects for investment appear, moreover, to be strengthening. Higher dwelling activity and public infrastructure spending is also starting to provide more support to spending. Overall, growth through 2010 looks likely to be close to trend. Read the rest »
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