Australia Keeps Key Rate at 4.5% for Second Month

Australia’s central bank paused in raising borrowing costs for a second month, and dropped a reference to the level of its benchmark being appropriate for the “near term,” citing concern about the global outlook.

Policy makers led by Governor Glenn Stevens kept the overnight cash rate target at 4.5 percent, the Reserve Bank of Australia said in a statement in Sydney today. The decision was predicted by all 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.