“Australia’s businesses and households will welcome the Reserve Bank Board’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged for the first time since May last year,” Innes Willox, Chief Executive the national employer association Ai Group, said today.
“While consumer prices and input costs are still running too high, there are strong signs that the economy is slowing and that inflation has peaked.
“With the full impacts of earlier rate rises yet to flow through and more mortgagees coming off fixed home load rates, it makes sense for the Reserve Bank to at least pause to allow it to evaluate whether further rate rises will be needed to ensure inflation is tamed.
“Critical to this evaluation will be the degree of restraint in price setting by businesses and governments, in wage negotiations and the wage determinations of the Fair Work Commission,” Mr Willox said.
