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Members of the Reserve Bank of Australia's Monetary Policy Board said that the outlook for the country's economy continued to be more or less on track, minutes from the bank's November 7 meeting revealed on Tuesday.
The members acknowledged that gross domestic product has been slightly weaker than expected - and while not dramatically so, it's likely to head off any discussion of a rate hike in the near term.
Also, the members noted that any further appreciation of the Australian dollar would complicate matters, weighing on both economic growth and the inflation forecast.
"Inflation was expected to increase, but only gradually. The forecasts had been updated to account for short-term factors, such as fluctuations in electricity and petrol prices, as well as for the effect of more frequent reweighting of the CPI in future," the minutes said.
At the meeting, the RBA decided to maintain its benchmark interest rate at a record low 1.50 percent.
The interest rate has been at this level since September 2016. The bank had reduced the rate by 25-basis points each in August and May last year.
"Taking into account the available information and the Bank's most recent set of forecasts, the Board judged that holding the stance of monetary policy unchanged would be consistent with sustainable growth in the economy and achieving the inflation target over time," the minutes said.
The bank's forecasts for growth in the Australian economy are largely unchanged. The central forecast was for GDP growth to pick up and to average around 3 percent over the next few years.
The outlook for non-mining business investment has improved, with the forward-looking indicators being more positive than they have been for some time, the RBA observed.
Increased public infrastructure investment is also supporting the economy. However, outlook for household consumption continues to remain a source of uncertainty.
Wage growth is forecast to remain low for a while yet, although the bank said the stronger conditions in the labor market should see some lift in wage growth over time.
"Members considered a detailed review of how the economy had evolved over the preceding year relative to the Bank's forecasts for domestic GDP growth, unemployment and inflation. Overall, the differences for these key variables were within the bounds of historical forecast errors," the minutes said.
