Australia’s Reserve Bank leaves its key interest rate unchanged

Australia’s Reserve Bank has left its key interest rate unchanged for the first time in 11 meetings, indicating that it will monitor the impact of a record run of increases before lifting borrowing costs again, Report informs referring to The Guardian.

More increases are still possible.

The RBA on April 4 left its cash rate target at 3.60%. Economists had been divided about whether the central bank would pause for the first time since May or hike by another quarter point to 3.85%.

“The board expects that some further tightening of monetary policy may well be needed to ensure that inflation returns to target,” said the RBA’s governor, Philip Lowe, in an accompanying statement. “The decision to hold interest rates steady this month provides the Board with more time to assess the state of the economy and the outlook, in an environment of considerable uncertainty.”

The RBA had been relatively late to lifting its official interest rates, making its first move during last May’s federal election. The increases of 350 basis points so far have been the most rapid tightening by the central bank in more than three decades.