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Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, the eighteenth of March twenty twenty six. Welcome

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Speaker 1: to the Fast five Business News by Fear and Greed,

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Speaker 1: where we give you the top five business stories you

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Speaker 1: need to know in just five minutes. I'm Michael Thompson

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Speaker 1: and good morning Sean Aylmer.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Michael, Sean.

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Speaker 1: Five stories in five minutes. Let's go a story number one.

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Speaker 1: It is, of course a big one. Official interest rates

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Speaker 1: have risen twenty five basis points, which will flow through

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Speaker 1: to mortgages, to credit cards and business loans, all of

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Speaker 1: it after the Reserve Bank Board judged that inflation pressures

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Speaker 1: in the economy were just too high thanks to constrained capacity,

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Speaker 1: a pick up in inflationary expectations end of course, the

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Speaker 1: war in the Middle East. However, it was far from

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Speaker 1: a unanimous decision. Four of the nine voting members actually

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Speaker 1: called for no change in interest rates.

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Speaker 2: In fact, the Reserve Bank Governor Michelle Bullocks to the

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Speaker 2: board discussed a hawkish hold, meaning not lifting interest rates,

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Speaker 2: but saying they might rise in the future. She said

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Speaker 2: that the direction of interest rates wasn't really at doubt,

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Speaker 2: it was more about the timing. Basically, you pick up

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Speaker 2: in business investments, stronger labor market, growth in the housing market,

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Speaker 2: or contributed to capacity constraints in the economy. The Klon

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Speaker 2: flicked in the Middle East, Well, that's got substantial risks

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Speaker 2: in both directions. Will push up short term prices, energy prices.

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Speaker 2: That type of stuff could actually sow growth though, and

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Speaker 2: that would drag down prices. Still got to see how

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Speaker 2: that one works out. It does take the official crash

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Speaker 2: rate to four point one percent, pushes the standard variable

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Speaker 2: mortgage rate to six points something or other on a

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Speaker 2: six hundred thousand dollars land, adds about ninety five bucks

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Speaker 2: a month to repayments.

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Speaker 1: Is it going to be another hike in May? Now, sean,

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Speaker 1: because ahead of the meeting yesterday the big banks were

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Speaker 1: all forecasting increases in both March and then again in May.

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Speaker 1: Just the fact that it was actually a split decision

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Speaker 1: yesterday count I reckon. It does clearly not everyone thinks

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Speaker 1: rates should rise. The Central Bank said it would make

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Speaker 1: a decision on the next move based on data. It

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Speaker 1: always says that market economists were split yesterday after announcement

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Speaker 1: whether or not there'll be another rate hike.

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Speaker 2: It just certainly you know they've got a bias towards

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Speaker 2: hiking rates, but four of the nine members yesterday didn't

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Speaker 2: want to do it, so I reckon it's no layd

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Speaker 2: down mazaire anymore.

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Speaker 1: Okay, story number two. Higher rates should put the brakes

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Speaker 1: on spending, you'd imagine, But so too will higher petrol

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Speaker 1: prices because City Bank estimates that for every ten cent

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Speaker 1: increase in average fuel prices, consumers will be hit with

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Speaker 1: a one point six billion dollar direct annual cost, and

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Speaker 1: the total cost could be six to seven billion, which

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Speaker 1: would be You'd have to think they'd be a far

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Speaker 1: more meaningful detractor to household spending capacity than an interest

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Speaker 1: rate hike.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely it would if that happened, it definitely would.

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Speaker 2: The analysis came as a competition watchdog held an emergency

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Speaker 2: meeting of major fuel suppliers. They wanted an explanation why

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Speaker 2: fuel prices in the metro and regional areas have risen

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Speaker 2: by an average of almost fifty cents a lead in

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Speaker 2: less than three weeks. Involved in the meeting Viver Energy,

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Speaker 2: BP Australia, Excell Mobiles, Chevron seven eleven, and our own

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Speaker 2: May was in the Australian Automobile Association. Basically treasure Jim

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Speaker 2: Chalmers has said that the HBC will throw the book

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Speaker 2: his phrase, at any retailers and suppliers found to be

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Speaker 2: using the crisis to unreasonably push up prices.

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Speaker 1: Story number three Sean Australia is inching towards a free

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Speaker 1: trade deal with the European Union. It feels like I

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Speaker 1: had been inching towards this decade for a lifetime right,

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Speaker 1: with reports suggesting that it might be announced or at

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Speaker 1: least finalized, with European Commission President Ursula Vondalayan expected to

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Speaker 1: travel to Canberra next week. Bloomberg reported overnight that Vondalayan

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Speaker 1: had told EU leaders in a letter that talks with

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Speaker 1: Australia were in the final stretch. Trade Minister Don Farrell

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Speaker 1: yesterday told nine media that he was confident we can

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Speaker 1: do a deal.

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Speaker 2: Looks like something's happening. A deal valued around one hundred

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Speaker 2: and ten billion dollars has long been posed. The sticking

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Speaker 2: point I think remains agriculture. The quantity of meat Australia

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Speaker 2: could sell into European markets, particularly touching for French and

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Speaker 2: Irish farmers. Any deal would cut the price of a

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Speaker 2: bunch of things, including European cars open the door to

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Speaker 2: more foreign investment, also lower the barriers to local farm exporters.

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Speaker 2: Talks have largely overcome most of the differences, including very

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Speaker 2: important things like the naming rights of European products like

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Speaker 2: prosecco and feather cheese and stuff like that.

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Speaker 1: The really important stuff story number four sean, the largest

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Speaker 1: ever review of medical cannabis trials, found no evidence that

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Speaker 1: it was effective in treating anxiety, depression or post traumatic

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Speaker 1: stress disorder, notwithstanding an explosion in the number of prescriptions

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Speaker 1: being written for those conditions. Lead author Jack Wilson from

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Speaker 1: the University of Sydney so the use of cannabis could

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Speaker 1: be causing more harm than good, including a greater risk

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Speaker 1: of psychotic symptoms and addiction. He called for tighter controls

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Speaker 1: on the prescription of unapproved medical cannabis products. There are

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Speaker 1: more than one thousand of those legally sold on the

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Speaker 1: Australian market.

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Speaker 2: The University of Sydney review analyzed fifty four randomized control

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Speaker 2: trials conducted globally on cannabis and mental health over forty

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Speaker 2: five years, found that it could be effective in a

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Speaker 2: bunch of things. Some forms of epilepsy, spasticity in people

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Speaker 2: with multiple sclerosis and pain management. However, the Therapeutic Goods

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Speaker 2: Administration shows that the second biggest reason for prescribing it

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Speaker 2: under one of the key pathways available to patients is anxiety.

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Speaker 2: That's not on that list of things that it actually

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Speaker 2: does help. The most important, the one that's mostly prescribed for,

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Speaker 2: is actually chronic pain, but other things like sleep disorder

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Speaker 2: PTSD in somnia and depression or all on that list

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Speaker 2: as well. More than one million Australians used medicinal cannabis

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four, up from just eighteen thousand five

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Speaker 2: years earlier.

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Speaker 1: Last one, sorry number five. Sri Lanka has declared every

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Speaker 1: Wednesday a public holiday. Idea, I mean there is merit

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Speaker 1: to it. The idea is to conserve fuel. There's the

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Speaker 1: island nation is grappling with possible shortages, of course, in

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Speaker 1: the wake of the US and Israel's war with Iran.

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Speaker 1: Sri Lankan President Anua Kumara Disaniaka said at an emergency

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Speaker 1: meeting with senior officials that we must prepare for the

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Speaker 1: worst but hope for the best. It is the latest

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Speaker 1: in a series of belt tightening measures undertaken by Asian

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Speaker 1: countries since the war choked off the Strait of Hamuz,

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Speaker 1: which used to carry millions of barrels of oil from

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Speaker 1: the Gulf into the region.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, nearly ninety percent of all the oil and gas

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Speaker 2: flowing through the straight last year was bound for Asia,

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Speaker 2: which is the world's largest oil importing region. Other measures

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Speaker 2: around the place, Thailand governments urged people to swap suits

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Speaker 2: for short sleeved t shirts to reduce reliance on air

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Speaker 2: conditioning MEMR. Private vehicles are allowed only to operate on

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Speaker 2: alternate days depending on their license plate. Bangladesh has brought

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Speaker 2: forward Ramadan holidays in universities, introduced planned blackouts across the

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Speaker 2: nation to conserve energy. Certainly a crisis not just for

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Speaker 2: the Asian countries, for Australia as well though.

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Speaker 1: Indeed, all right, there we go the top five business

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Speaker 1: stories in five minutes. Thank you Sean, Thank you Michael.

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Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, the eighteenth of March twenty twenty six. Remember

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Speaker 1: to hit follow on the podcast very important that one

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Speaker 1: and if five minutes isn't enough, you're can find our

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Speaker 1: longer daily show called Fear and Greed wherever you listen

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Speaker 1: to podcasts. I'm Michael Thompson and that was past five.

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Speaker 1: Business News by fear and greed. Have a great day.