The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has left official interest rates unchanged at 3.50 per cent at its board meeting on September 4, 2012. The decision to hold comes for the third month in a row as Reserve Bank cited a more subdued international outlook than was the case a few months ago.
Media release following the meeting was almost identical to last month's one and the main points are:
- Having picked up in the early months of 2012, growth in the world economy has since softened
- Australia's terms of trade peaked a year ago and have declined significantly since then, though they remain historically high.
- Financial markets have responded positively to signs of progress in Europe, but expectations for further progress are high.
- Share markets have generally risen over the past couple of months, on very light volumes.
- In Australia, most indicators suggest economy growth has been running close to trend.
- Labour market data show moderate employment growth and the rate of unemployment has thus far remained low.
- Inflation remains low, with underlying measures near 2 per cent over the year to June, and headline CPI inflation lower than that.
- Interest rates for borrowers have remained to be a little below their medium-term averages.
The Board judged that, with inflation expected to be consistent with the target and growth close to trend, but with a more subdued international outlook than was the case a few months ago, the stance of monetary policy remained appropriate.
It's unlikely that any of the banks will increase their mortgage rates independently from RBA this month, especially when many economists believe there would be at least one rate cut in the last three months of the 2012.
To figure out your home loan repayments for the current rates - please use our mortgage repayment calculator.