{"id":501955,"date":"2026-06-16T05:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T05:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/501955\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T05:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T05:34:09","slug":"rba-keeps-interest-rates-on-hold-for-first-time-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/501955\/","title":{"rendered":"RBA keeps interest rates on hold for first time in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Reserve Bank of Australia has left interest rates on hold for the first time in 2026 as the nation’s economy deteriorates and questions linger over a potential peace deal in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Following three consecutive rate rises, the central bank’s monetary policy board voted unanimously to leave the cash rate steady at 4.35 per cent on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The decision was anticipated by the majority of economists and financial markets.<\/p>\n

But the question now is whether it heralds the end of the bank’s hiking cycle or is merely a pause before the next move upwards.<\/p>\n

\"Construction Rising inflation and sluggish GDP have complicated matters for the RBA. (Joel Carrett\/AAP PHOTOS) <\/p>\n

The odds of a rate hike lengthened following softer-than-expected economic growth figures, a jump in the unemployment rate and better-than-forecast inflation figures since the previous rate meeting in May.<\/p>\n

Added to the list of considerations for the Reserve Bank was a federal budget which has already compounded a housing market slowdown thanks to proposed curbs to property investor tax breaks.<\/p>\n

Economists have revised down home price growth forecasts, with ANZ now expecting a nationwide housing downturn in 2026 and 2027.<\/p>\n

Questions over a tentative Iran peace deal also remain.<\/p>\n

Financial markets were pricing in about a one-in-two chance of one more rate rise in 2026 ahead of the meeting.<\/p>\n

\"People Mortgage holders are unlikely to see any more rate hikes this year, analysts say. (Nikki Short\/AAP PHOTOS) <\/p>\n

While all four big banks predicted a hold prior to the meeting, Westpac was the only one still forecasting more hikes this year.<\/p>\n

Cost pressures were still coming through the pipeline strongly, said Westpac senior economist Pat Bustamante.<\/p>\n

A survey of businesses by Westpac and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry showed firms were facing a growing squeeze on both costs and demand in the March quarter.<\/p>\n

“On the one hand, we’re seeing activity stall,” Mr Bustamante told reporters in Canberra.<\/p>\n

“But at the same time we’re seeing cost pressures remain elevated and expectations of future cost pressures are also high amongst the manufacturing sector.”<\/p>\n

It demonstrated the dilemma for the RBA, working against two opposing forces, he said.<\/p>\n

“The only way to rectify this is to (reignite) productivity growth across the economy. And that’s what the government should focus on: supply side measures, boost productivity and support growth without necessarily leading to more inflation,” Mr Bustamante said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Reserve Bank of Australia has left interest rates on hold for the first time in 2026 as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,113,5468,61,5232,60,18514,23260,1684],"class_list":["post-501955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-financial-markets","tag-ie","tag-interest-rates","tag-ireland","tag-reserve-bank","tag-reserve-bank-of-australia","tag-unemployment-rate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}