An official survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed on Friday, a third of the Australian nationals reported worsening household financial condition, in the face of the coronavirus outbreak led economic shutdown.
Key findings
The impact of the pandemic on households was focused on financial and psychological stress, stimulus payments and changes to work.
It showed as many as 31% of respondents saw a deterioration in finances from mid-March to mid-April, with 14% reporting an improvement. No details were provided on improving finances.
The survey highlights the challenges facing policymakers who have gone all in to blunt the economic shock from the containment measures aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.
About 8% of respondents said they lacked the money to pay one or more bills on time and 10% of households drew on their savings to pay for basic living expenses – the most common response to coping with financial stress.
The second most common was reducing loan payments.
6% were working fewer hours since the end of March and 12% of adults had a change in their work.”
AUD/USD keeps losses
The findings of the ABS survey added to the bearish bias seen in the aussie dollar, with AUD/USD now hovering around 0.6460, down 0.75% on a daily basis.
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