The Reserve Bank of Australia announces its monetary policy decision - 1 May 2018
- Prior decision 1.50%
- Inflation likely to remain low for some time
- Sees inflation picking up gradually as economy strengthens
- Unchanged policy consistent with sustainable economic growth
- Sees GDP growth average above 3% in 2018, 2019
- Progress on unemployment and inflation expected to be gradual
- Rising AUD would lead to slower economic pickup
- AUD remains in range of past couple of years
- One continuing source of uncertainty is outlook for household consumption
- Housing markets have slowed in Sydney, Melbourne
- Wage growth remains low, likely to continue for a while yet
- Rate of wages growth appears troughed
- Inflation figures were in line with expectations, expected to be a bit above 2% this year
- Global economy has strengthened over the past year
- Australia's terms of trade expected to decline, but remain at high level
Nothing of note, but the RBA continues to point out that inflation and household consumption will remain the key challenges they will face in order to raise rates.
AUD barely budging on the decision. AUD/USD was at 0.7540 before the announcement, now at 0.7538.
