A third consecutive interest rate rise has been confirmed by the RBA.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has increased the
interest rate for a third successive month by 0.25 per cent.
It has now set a new official cash rate figure of 4.5 per cent, which will become effective on May 5th, governor Glenn Stevens announced in the group's monthly Monetary Policy Decision meeting.
The organisation now thinks the levels are "close to the average" that have been experienced in the past decade.
Mr Stevens said it represented a "significant adjustment" from the "expansionary" settings that occurred a year ago.
He predicted that there will be a peak of the country's terms of trade - as there was in 2008 - which could "foster a build-up in investment in the resources sector".
And he also believes the output growth in 2010 will be higher than last year, with forecasts that the world Gross Domestic Product will stand at "trend pace or a little above" in 2010.
But the group admitted that
Aussie credit conditions remain "difficult" for a number of sectors, although there are signs that lenders are becoming more willing to loan to borrowers.
Mr Stevens added: "Credit outstanding for housing has been expanding at a solid pace. New loan approvals for housing have moderated over recent months as interest rates have risen and the impact of large grants to first-home buyers has tailed off."
However, the RBA underlined it would still try to achieve the average inflation rate of two to three per cent and set the monetary policy number accordingly in order to do this.
This news comes after the organisation increased the official cash rate by 0.25 per cent in both April and March. Last month's rise saw a selection of banks spurred into action by increasing their own rates, such as ANZ upping the figure on a selection of its
credit cards by 0.25 per cent per annum.
By Mark Hornby
