Monitor reveals this month’s rate movements

The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) has today released the December NFF Agribusiness Loan Monitor, which shows that only one financial institution has reduced its rates by the full 0.50 percent in the last two months. Suncorp Agribusiness reduced its term loan rate by 0.25 percent in November and another 0.25 percent in December, matching the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) interest rate cuts. Four other banks, ANZ Agribusiness, Bananacoast Community Credit Union, Bendigo Bank and Westpac Agribusiness also reduced their term loan or overdraft rates in December by between 0.03 percent and 0.25 percent; however of the four, only ANZ also reduced its rates last month. “With two rate cuts now made by the RBA since November, bringing the official cash rate to 4.25 percent, the NFF Agribusiness Loan Monitor for December shows which banks have made corresponding reductions in their rates. And, of all the banks in the Monitor, only one has passed on both rate cuts in full,” NFF Economics Committee Chair John McKillop said. “We of course appreciate that unstable financial markets continue to dominate headlines, and that the economic turmoil in Europe is having an impact on credit markets both at home and abroad. “However, in saying that, the NFF is keen to ensure that Australian farmers are getting the best possible deal from their financial lenders, and that these lenders are competing aggressively for their agribusiness customers. “That’s why we created the Agribusiness Loan Monitor – to provide transparency for farmers as to how the banks are adjusting their agribusiness loan rates and to help them make informed decisions about their finances,” Mr McKillop said. The NFF Agribusiness Loan Monitor for December is available http://www.nff.org.au/publications.html#cat_2119[here]. The NFF provides this valuable tool to all Australian farmers in partnership with Canstar.