The Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of Australia decided, in its meeting this morning, Tuesday, April 5th, to keep monetary policy and the current interest rates at 0.10%, unchanged as expected.
The bank said in a statement that the Australian economy remains resilient and that spending is rebounding after the Omicron setback and that the real strength is evident in the Australian labor market, where unemployment rates have fallen to 4% in February and the underemployment rate is at its lowest level in years.
Inflation in Australia has risen to 2.6% and 3.5% in basic terms, but remains lower than it is in many other countries where the increase in the prices of oil and other commodities is causing inflation to increase.
The Board’s policies during the pandemic have supported progress towards the goals of full employment and inflation in line with the goal and that the Board wants to see actual evidence that inflation is within the target range of 2-3% in a sustainable manner before it raises interest levels.
The Australian dollar is trading at its highest level since June of last year against the US dollar at 0.7618 levels before the opening of European markets.