Macquarie Bank will lift deposit rates by 0.25 percentage points<\/a>, following the RBA hike.<\/p>\nThat’s alongside the increase in its variable home loan rates.<\/p>\n
We’ll be reporting changes to savings and home loan rates as they are announced, and they’ll also be tracked here:<\/p>\n
21m agoTue 5 May 2026 at 5:06am<\/p>\n
Three consecutive rate hikes unwind relief of 2025: Deloitte![\"Yiying](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/lcimg-fd731455-4dce-4016-8b68-e56eb091d550.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Australians have faced three consecutive rate hikes, unwinding the easing delivered in 2025 and returning the cash rate to post-pandemic highs, according to Stephen Smith, partner at Deloitte Access Economics.<\/p>\n
There is now a credible risk that rates could rise to levels not seen for about 15 years, he says.<\/p>\n
Mr Smith said today\u2019s interest rate rise was all but inevitable, with underlying inflation running above the RBA’s target band since well before the conflict in the Middle East began.<\/p>\n
“At the same time, the latest Statement on Monetary Policy, also released today, reveals that the RBA has further downgraded its medium-term growth outlook to just 1.4% \u2013 a historic low.<\/p>\n
“The policy outlook has shifted materially in a short period. Avoiding an extended period of restrictive interest rates requires greater alignment between fiscal and monetary settings.”<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Mr Smith says next week’s federal budget will be critical.<\/p>\n
“The government will need to demonstrate a genuine commitment to fiscal discipline and structural reform, rather than relying on broad-based, short-term cost-of-living measures that may provide temporary relief while adding to medium-term inflation persistence.<\/p>\n
“Without reforms that lift productivity and expand supply-side capacity, an economy that was already operating near capacity before the Middle East conflict is likely to remain constrained. In that environment, inflationary pressures will be more difficult to contain, and the risk of further monetary tightening will remain elevated.”<\/p>\n
Similarly, if public spending continues to support aggregate demand at current levels, the burden on monetary policy is likely to increase, Mr Smith continues.<\/p>\n
“A credible reform agenda in next week\u2019s budget would provide an important signal to the RBA and financial markets that fiscal and monetary policy are becoming more complementary.<\/p>\n
“From here, the RBA will need to calibrate policy carefully against its dual mandate. As higher fuel prices continue to pass through into broader prices, underlying inflation will remain elevated.<\/p>\n
“Whether additional tightening is required will depend on the extent to which recent rate increases and the global energy shock weigh on demand, activity and price formation in the coming months.”<\/p>\n
24m agoTue 5 May 2026 at 5:03am<\/p>\n
Your reactions to the RBA rate hike![\"Stephanie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/lcimg-38467754-a5e6-4c2e-97bd-ca15b178ac9c.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
How does making mortgage holders pay more money to banks impact the price of petrol? RBAs blunt instrument is wildly out of date. <\/p>\n
– Dylan <\/p>\n
Why do mortgage holders consistently bear the brunt of economic fluctuations? This doesn’t seem fair<\/p>\n
– AJ<\/p>\n
Increasing interest rates won’t slow inflation only heap more stress and cost on struggling families \ud83d\ude1f<\/p>\n
– Adrian<\/p>\n
This hike will mean that I will be closer to not affording basic things. We are looking to start a family and this might just mean that it never happens for me. I am absolutely devastated.<\/p>\n
– Golden<\/p>\n
Despite all the wailing and gnashing of teeth, the data shows the average person continues to spend very freely. It might be the first experience of tightening their belts for some.<\/p>\n
– Harsh<\/p>\n
Reduce the deficit and cost of living by taxing the resources<\/p>\n
– Ronald<\/p>\n
It seems the RBA wishes to tackle inflation and not the looming recession. Shame on them.<\/p>\n
– John<\/p>\n
Thanks for your comments this afternoon. Clearly, a lot of people are feeling upset and financially stressed in the wake of the third rate hike of 2026.<\/p>\n
Normally, we see a wider mix of views in the comments, but today’s sentiment is pretty overwhelmingly negative.<\/p>\n
Undoubtedly, there will be questions on the topics you have all raised when the RBA governor speaks in about half an hour.<\/p>\n
31m agoTue 5 May 2026 at 4:56am<\/p>\n
Rate hike not a surprise: KPMG<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s latest rise will unfortunately not come as a huge surprise to many economists and the broader Australian public, KPMG chief economist\u00a0Brendan Rynne has said.<\/p>\n
As we reported earlier, the central bank has raised the cash rate for the third consecutive\u00a0time this year, bringing it to 4.35%, the highest level since November 2023.<\/p>\n
“RBA officials have spent much of the time since the last meeting in mid-March telling anyone and everyone that the cash rate was on the way up,” Dr Rynne said.<\/p>\n
“The fundamental reason for this contractionary outlook is now less about an economy running above capacity and more about ensuring inflation does not become entrenched through expectations.<\/p>\n
“Inflation remains far too high and is showing no signs of returning to the mid-point of the target band (2.5%) anytime soon.<\/p>\n
“In this context, the RBA appears willing to accept the trade\u2011off that comes with tighter policy \u2014 namely higher unemployment and a greater risk of below trend growth, in order to preserve credibility and ensure longer\u2011term inflation expectations remain firmly anchored.”<\/p>\n
36m agoTue 5 May 2026 at 4:51am<\/p>\n
RBA unwinds last year’s rate cuts<\/p>\n
The RBA’s new cash rate target is 4.35 per cent, up from 4.1 per cent.<\/p>\n
Interest rates have now returned to the level they were in February 2025 before the RBA began its rate-cutting cycle last year, so last year’s policy easing has been fully unwound.<\/p>\n
Today’s decision follows last week’s news that\u00a0headline inflation accelerated sharply in March<\/a>\u00a0as surging automotive fuel prices (+32.8 per cent in March), sparked by the war in the Middle East, pushed much higher inflation into Australia’s economy.<\/p>\nRates have been lifted three times this year (in February, March and May), but economists say the Reserve Bank Board may now want to wait a while to see how the economy responds before it moves rates again.<\/p>\n
Business reporter Gareth Hutchens\u00a0will be updating this comprehensive wrap:<\/p>\n
39m agoTue 5 May 2026 at 4:47am<\/p>\n
Muted market reaction to rate hike<\/p>\n
There hasn’t been much of a reaction in the currency or stock markets.<\/p>\n
The Australian dollar remains down against the greenback, but has slightly trimmed its losses, to 71.62 US cents.<\/p>\n
The ASX 200 remains in the red, down 0.5%, where it has bounced around for much of the session.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just nowTue 5 May 2026 at 5:26am Reserve Bank governor speaking shortly We’ll be bringing you live coverage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4231,138,2917,219,1943,3508,4238,111,139,69,39488,16549,1820,4233],"class_list":["post-412396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-asx","tag-business","tag-cost-of-living","tag-economy","tag-inflation","tag-interest-rates","tag-live-blog","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rate-hike","tag-rba","tag-share-market","tag-wall-street"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}