RBA lifts official interest rate

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The RBA board decided to increase the rate from a record low of 0.1%, to 0.35% and the interest rate on exchange settlement balances was lifted 25 percent to 0.25%.

The board judged that now was the right time to begin withdrawing some of the extraordinary monetary support provided to help the Australian economy through the pandemic.

The resilience of the Australian economy is particularly evident in the labour market, with unemployment declining over recent months to 4%, according to RBA Governor Philip Lowe.

“Both job vacancies and job ads are also at high levels,” he said.

“The central forecast is for the unemployment rate to decline to around 3.5% by early 2023.”

Lowe went on to say that inflation was significantly higher than expected a year ago, although it remained lower than in most other advanced economies.

Published:Tuesday, 3rd May 2022
Author: Paige Estritori

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