According to a Reuters’ poll, 39 of 40 surveyed economists surveyed over the past week expect RBA to keep interest rate unchanged at 1.00% at the August 6 meeting.
By the end of the year, 13 of 40 expect RBA to be on hold through this year. 25 expect another rate cut to 0.75% by year-end. Only two banks, Standard Chartered and Goldman Sachs, predict two cuts to 0.50%.
RBA delivered two back-to-back cuts in June and July to 1.00%. The central bank’s research indicates such rate cut would boost GDP growth by 0.25-0.40% over two years. However, inflation would be lifted by 0.1% only.
