05.10.202104:06:00UTC+00Australia Central Bank Keeps Policy Unchanged

Australia's central bank kept its monetary policy unchanged on Tuesday, as widely expected.

The policy board of the Reserve Bank of Australia headed by Governor Philip Lowe decided to leave its cash rate unchanged at a record low of 0.10 percent.

The board maintained the target of 10 basis points for the April 2024 Australian Government bond.

The board also voted to continue with the purchase of government securities at the rate of A$4 billion a week until at least mid February 2022.

The bank repeated that it will not increase the cash rate until actual inflation is sustainably within the 2 to 3 percent target range. The central scenario for the economy is that this condition will not be met before 2024.

Policymakers observed that housing credit growth has picked up due to stronger demand for credit by both owner-occupiers and investors. It is important that lending standards are maintained and that loan serviceability buffers are appropriate.