While the bank held official interest rates steady for the first time in a year, RBA governor Philip Lowe signalled that further increases were a possibility.
Credit:The bank has lifted the cash rate at its past 10 consecutive meetings. On an average $600,000 mortgage, repayments have climbed to almost $3600 a month over that period. In April last year, monthly repayments on the same mortgage were $2370., the RBA decided to hold the cash rate this month.“The board expects that some further tightening of monetary policy may well be needed to ensure that inflation returns to target,” he said.
He said there were signs the economy was responding to the bank’s previous increases in interest rates. CPA Australia’s senior manager of business and investment policy, Gavan Ord, said people should be prepared for future rate rises. “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.”“At the aggregate level, wages growth is still consistent with the inflation target, provided that productivity growth picks up,” he said.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan weekly measure of consumer sentiment lifted slightly over the past seven days but remains close to the lows reached at the start of COVID-19 shutdowns in early 2020.
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