AUSTRALIA

Interest Rates Called Hindrance to Growth: Interest rates in Australia are too high to stimulate sufficient growth to reduce unemployment, according to the head of Australia’s treasury department. Real interest rates, or interest rates after discounting inflation, are “too high to generate the rate of growth we need,” Ted Evans said at a meeting on unemployment. Australia’s 10-year benchmark bond rate is 6.5%. Discounting inflation of about 2.2% gives a real interest rate of about 4.3%, higher than real rates in the U.S. and Japan. Australia’s jobless rate is 10.9%.