In another no-surprise decision, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has elected this week to leave the official cash rate on hold at 4.35%.
Yet while economists have been widely predicting that interest rates could start coming down in a few months, the board is being cagey.
RBA governor Michele Bullock said in a statement on Tuesday that while recent information ‘suggests that inflation continues to moderate’, the Board expects that it will be ‘some time yet before inflation is sustainably in the target range’.
“The path of interest rates that will best ensure that inflation returns to target in a reasonable timeframe remains uncertain and the Board is not ruling anything in or out.
“The Board will rely upon the data and the evolving assessment of risks”, the statement concludes.
Under new rules, the Reserve Bank Board will not be making any decisions either way on monetary policy in April this year, with their next meeting scheduled for the first week of May.