Australia's central bank holds rates steady
Australia’s central bank opted on Tuesday to hold interest rates steady after inflation rose in October.
In a statement, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced that its Monetary Policy Board voted unanimously to maintain the cash rate target at 3.60 percent during its final meeting of 2025, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The bank noted that although inflation has declined significantly from its 2022 peak, it has recently edged higher again.
According to data released late November by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the country’s annual inflation rate increased from 3.6 percent in September to 3.8 percent in October. The annual trimmed mean — the RBA’s preferred measure of underlying inflation — also climbed to 3.3 percent.
“The recent data suggest the risks to inflation have tilted to the upside, but it will take a little longer to assess the persistence of inflationary pressures,” the Monetary Policy Board said in the decision statement.
The Board added that the data indicate a broadly based increase in inflation, which will require close monitoring.
As reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the decision to hold the cash rate steady was widely anticipated.
Between February and August, the RBA cut the key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points on three occasions, lowering it from 4.65 percent, where it had been held since November 2023.
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