Cash Rate Held at 4.35%

For another meeting, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) held the cash rate steady at 4.35%. The last time the RBA changed the cash rate was an increase in November 2023.

The move was widely expected as the RBA has made it clear it is working to get inflation back to within the target range of 2-3%. While inflation has fallen since its peak, the most recent quarterly results for June 2024 showed it is still some way off at 3.8%.

In a keynote address earlier this month, RBA governor Michele Bullock said, “The Board remains vigilant to upside risks to inflation and has noted that monetary policy will need to remain sufficiently restrictive until it is confident that inflation is moving sustainably towards the target range.”

She added that if the economy moves generally as predicted, it is unlikely there will be a rate cut in the near term.