Australia’s central bank conceded on June 21 that its exit from a policy to keep bond yields low during the pandemic was “disorderly” and had damaged its reputation.

In March 2020, the Reserve Bank of Australia introduced a target for the yield on the three-year Australian government bond, as part of a pandemic stimulus programme. The target was initially set at around 0.25% and was lowered to around 0.1% in November 2020.

But as Australia began to recover from the pandemic, the yield target