RBA Comfortable With Rates
The RBA’s minutes for the August meeting reinforced our view that the policy rate will remain unchanged in the near-term. Policymakers stated that ‘developments over the latest month had not materially changed the Board’s assessment’ and they were ‘comfortable with the existing level of interest rates, particularly in an environment where there was a significant degree of market volatility.
Outlook on global economic growth was similar to what policymakers mentioned and the market anticipates. Moderation has occurred in Asia. In China, the property market ‘is cooling, with turnover lower and housing prices declining in a number of markets’. ‘Overall, while the extent of slowing in the Chinese economy remained uncertain, the recent indicators did not suggest a more marked slowing than the staff had been expecting’.
Domestically, the central forecast for inflation remained unchanged.