Australians were just moments away from being handed another painful interest rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia during the meeting earlier this month, minutes have revealed.
The central bank published the minutes from the October 3 meeting, where the decision was ultimately made to keep interest rates steady for a fourth straight month. The RBA is expected to meet next week to decide if further rate rises are needed. Picture Gaye Gerard / NCA Newswire.
They blamed this partly on a huge jump in global oil prices caused by shrinking global supply, which is volatile and unaffected by RBA decision making. “In light of these observations, members considered two options for monetary policy at this meeting: raising the cash rate target by a further 25 basis points; or holding the cash rate target steady.”
Inflation is broadly following a downward trend after peaking in December last year, but the recent uptick in petrol prices is expected to “underpin inflation over coming months”.
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