FARM leaders are calling for the banks to pass on today's 1 per cent interest rate cut in full to farmers.
The NSW Farmers' Association says farmers, unlike home buyers, had not received major benefits from recent rate cuts totalling 3 per cent since September.
"Many farmers do not appear to be seeing corresponding reductions in their loans, nor do they have access to information about what the banks are doing,'' NSWFA president Jock Laurie said.
The Australian Bankers' Association should release information on rate cuts for farmers "and provide clarity as to why variations between housing and agricultural loans exist'', Mr Laurie said.
The NSWFA was currently surveying its members to determine the extent of rate reductions on rural loans since September, he said.
Queensland farm group AgForce also called for the 1 per cent cut to ”immediately flow through” to farm businesses.
"We are now calling on banks to recognise that the importance of sustaining the economy may require them to sacrifice bank profits and share the reduced growth being experienced by all other sectors of the economy," AgForce president John Cotter said.
The comments came after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut official interest rates by 1 per cent to their lowest level in six years.
RBA governor Glenn Stevens said the Australian economy was experiencing a "significant moderation'' as global economies also slowed down and commodity prices slumped.
Global financial markets also remained “fragile'' despite recent policy actions having begun to take effect, Mr Stevens said.
"Weighing up the international and domestic developments of recent months, the (RBA) board judged that a further significant reduction in the cash rate was warranted," he said.
The 1 per cent cut is the fourth in the past four months, with official rates now down 3 per cent since September.
The Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank immediately announced they were passing on the full 1 per cent cut to both their variable home lending rates and their variable business rates.
Westpac said it would cut its variable home and business rates by 0.8 per cent, while ANZ is still to announce its intentions.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the banks should pass on the "maximum possible'' amount of the official rate cut as soon as possible to all their customers.
