IN ALL the discussion about banks and their aggressive approach to making their business run like a business, it is good to hear some good news about farmers and interest rates.
The National Farmers’ Federation’s (NFF) released their February Agribusiness Loan Monitor - the first for 2012 - this week and it notes agribusiness lending rates have started to trend downwards in line with last year’s 0.5 per cent cut to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) cash lending rate.
The report has also revealed only the Commonwealth Bank refused to budge on its agribusiness and
farm overdraft rates in the last two months.
The NFF is - quite justifiably - taking pride in the fact its research is prompting greater scrutiny of farm lending costs.
Certainly borrowers re-paying home loans would welcome their weekly or monthly burden lowered; but often the forgotten people in all of this financial mish-mash are the self-funded retirees.
They need higher interest rates to provide a decent return on the investments they so carefully salted away before quitting work; taking to the highways and byways as grey nomad, or whatever they choose to do.
There will never be an easy answer - but one thing is important: equality.
No single entity should be penalised with higher interest rates because they are smaller in numbers than other community sectors.
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