In assessing the impact of this on the Australian economy as a whole we have taken into account that there will be a material rebuilding effort and that government grants and insurance payments will assist many people. On this basis, our assessment is that GDP growth for 2020 as a whole will be  largely unaffected.
Significantly lower interest rates, accelerated economic activity and labour market recovery led to a rise in loan demand. On this account, lending recorded positive y-o-y growth rates since the second half of 2015, despite the maturing of considerable amounts of subsidised loans and increased efforts of banks to resolve the issue of non-performing loans.