On this day, February 13, 1997, the pressure mounting for rates cuts made front page news in The Examiner.
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It was reported the Commonwealth Bank of Australia was moving to cut its variable mortgage rate by 0.7 per cent, which had put pressure on other banks across Australia to follow suit.
Treasurer Peter Costello urged the major banks to match the CBA's lowest variable mortgage rate in almost 25 years
"One small step for for the Commonwealth Bank, one giant leap for homebuyers this morning," he said.
Acting Premier Sue Napier said the cut was excellent news and hoped it would encourage other banks to follow suit.
"There is a need to be able to drop interest rates as people have become very conservative with the relative uncertainty of the future jobs market," she said.
"It is an important ingredient in boosting the Tasmanian economy. This has given people confidence in investing in the future and the Commonwealth Bank has shown the way."
President of the Northern branch of the Real Estate Institute Fran Jago welcomed the news, but said job creation was just as important.
"It is fantastic to see that someone is trying to stimulate confidence in the economy by getting people out there spending money and committing themselves to a mortgage," she said.
"However, cutting interest rates is not enough - we need to be creating jobs. Hopefully local banks will follow the Commonwealth's lead."
The new rates were to come into effect on February 13 for new applicants, and March 27 for existing customers. However, the article stated other major banks were still considering a response.
Other news making The Examiner's front page on February 13, 1997, was two armed robbers were sentenced to jail, with the Supreme Court judge stating the act had become a significant problem in Tasmania.
The judge's comments reflected statistics provided to the court by crown prosecutor Tony Jacobs when presenting the facts of both cases the week prior.
Mr Jacobs told the court that robbery had increased at an alarming rate over the past four years, with the yearly number of robberies topping 100. He said that 127 robberies were committed in the 1995-1996 financial year.
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