![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/jp-1730786685-rotated.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPublished On 29 Sep 202629 Sep 2026<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s central bank has raised interest rates to a 15-year high, spelling higher mortgage payments for millions of Australian households.<\/p>\n
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on Tuesday lifted the benchmark rate by 0.25 percent to 4.6 percent, its highest since 2011.<\/p>\n
Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n
The RBA said inflation remained elevated and that previously flagged \u201cupside risks\u201d had materialised, including higher energy prices due to the United States-Israel war on Iran and an AI-driven surge in tech costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere continue to be heightened uncertainties about the outlook for domestic economic activity and inflation,\u201d the bank\u2019s monetary board said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Middle East conflict remains unresolved, and there are scenarios where inflation is higher and activity lower than forecast,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGlobal oil supply disruptions are maintaining upward pressure on global and domestic energy prices and inflation. A period of prolonged uncertainty may also cause growth to be lower overseas and in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s annual rate of inflation stood at 3.5 percent in July, well above the central bank\u2019s 2\u20133 percent target.<\/p>\n
Central banks typically raise their benchmark interest rate when policymakers believe prices are rising too fast.<\/p>\n
Higher interest rates raise the cost of borrowing, including mortgages, cooling consumer demand and bringing down inflation.<\/p>\n
The latest hike is set to heap further strain on Australian households already grappling with three previous increases this year.<\/p>\n
In a research report earlier this month, Roy Morgan said nearly one-third of Australian mortgage holders, or nearly 1.8 million people, were at risk of \u201cmortgage stress\u201d \u2013 where households spend 25-45 percent of after-tax income on payments \u2013 as of July.<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who is not responsible for setting interest rates, acknowledged that the hike would mean greater hardship for many Australians.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know a lot of Australians are under pressure and this will make things harder,\u201d Chalmers said in a post on X.<\/p>\n
\u201cInflation and interest rates are going up around the world but we know that doesn\u2019t take the sting out of today\u2019s decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chalmers said the government would take responsibility for \u201cour part of the fight against inflation\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means continuing to manage the budget responsibly, rolling out tax cuts and cost of living help, and addressing the longer term challenges in our economy in an uncertain global environment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reserve Bank of Australia lifts benchmark rate to 4.6 percent amid stubborn inflation. Published On 29 Sep 202629…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1758,85,138,338,219,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-615230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-asia-pacific","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-business-and-economy","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615230","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=615230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}