RBA raised cash rate target by 50bps to 1.35% as widely expected. It also increased the interest rate on Exchange Settlement balances by 50bps to 1.25%.
It also maintains tightening bias. “The Board expects to take further steps in the process of normalising monetary conditions in Australia over the months ahead,” it said. The timing and size of future hikes will be guided by the incoming data and assessment of the outlook for inflation and the labor market.
RBA also pointed to “behaviour of household spending” as one source of domestic “ongoing uncertainty”. Global outlook “remains clouded” by war in Ukraine and the impacts of energy and agriculture prices. There are also ongoing uncertainties related to COVID, especially in China.
