RBA’s ‘hawkish’ shift raising official cash rate to 10-year high
The Reserve Bank of Australia today raised the national interest rate for a ninth consecutive time to 3.35 per cent, but some economists are pushing for the central bank to take pause.
The rise means the average Australian household with a $500,000 mortgage will be paying around $78 extra per month.
Senior economist at AMP Capital Diana Mousina predicts another one or two rate rises, although she was initially forecasting a pause to the cash rate this month.
“At the end of last year, it seemed like the RBA was coming around to the view that there are significant lags involved in monetary policy, especially in this cycle because 40 per cent of households with a mortgage are on a fixed rate,” she told Neil Breen.
“But I think concern about inflation and the global inflationary pressures, pressure from other central banks high rates at a faster rate compared to the RBA … I think that’s causing the RBA to be more hawkish than what they usually would be.
“They are not taking into account some of the domestic pressures and the difference Australia has with the rest of the world, in terms of how our housing market is structured, and how high household debt is.”
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