With unemployment falling to 5.8 per cent and inflation firmly within its target band at 1.7 per cent, the RBA has kept the official cash rate on hold at 2 per cent at its meeting today.
The decision is in line with the ASX 30 Day Interbank Cash Rate Futures market, which was pricing in a 93 per cent chance of ‘no change’ to the official cash rate.
In its monthly meeting, the ANU Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis (CAMA) RBA Shadow Board said the outlook for the Australian economy “looks much the same as the previous month”.
“[The CAMA Shadow Board] continues to have a strong preference for keeping the cash rate on hold, attaching a 69 per cent probability to this being the appropriate policy setting,” it said.
Ninety-seven per cent of the economists surveyed by finder.com.au predicted there would be “no change” to the RBA cash rate this month.
AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver said that while the RBA retains an “easing bias”, recent data pointing to stronger economic growth means the central bank is “unlikely to act on that bias just yet”.
