The RBA’s decision yesterday to cut interest rates has brought jubilation to thousands of Australian families, who say the savings will mean they can now afford at least two extra eggs from Woolworths each month.
With interest rates lowered to 4.1%, a household with a mortgage of $750,000 will have their monthly repayments reduced by $115, which is roughly the equivalent today of two bags of Doritos.
Homeowner Jason Wyllie said the rate relief would make a huge difference to his family’s weekly shop. “We’ve basically now got $20 extra spending money a week,” he said. “Now, we could blow that in one go at Woolies on a punnet of blueberries. Or we could try to make it stretch to two jars of pesto at Coles.”
While Mr Wyllie welcomed the rate cut, he said he’d still have to lease out all 3 bedrooms in his house to ensure they could still afford anything from the Woolworths baked goods section.
“The family all sleeps in the laundry, and we lease out the three bedrooms to renters,” he said. “That’s the only way we could ever possibly pay for a bottle of homebrand olive oil from Coles.”
The federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he was thrilled that families like the Wyllies could now treat themselves to an extra onion or two per month as a result of the rate cut.
The Treasurer, who’s been at pains to say that Labor’s fiscal policy wasn’t responsible for the past four years of interest rate hikes, this morning said that yesterday’s cut was proof of his government’s outstanding economic management.
