Reserve Bank of Australia pumps record liquidity into banking system

[SYDNEY] The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) used its daily money market operation to pump a record A$12.7 billion (S$10.7 billion) into the banking system on Thursday, aiming to ease liquidity constraints in a stressed bond market.

That followed an injection of A$10.7 billion on Wednesday, which had already left commercial banks with a huge A$18.8 billion of surplus cash held at the RBA.

Thursday's repurchase operations ranged from 39 days to 182 days, with A$7.4 billion going at the longest maturity.

The central bank has been flooding the system with cash all week as the economic fallout from the coronavirus causes turmoil in global financial markets.

REUTERS