RBA Holds Rate at 4.75% as Growth Outlook Dims; Currency Weakens

The Reserve Bank of Australia left its benchmark interest rate unchanged and said the nation’s growth pace may be weaker than previously forecast, triggering the local currency’s biggest drop in about three weeks.

Governor Glenn Stevens held the overnight cash rate target at 4.75 percent in Sydney for the seventh straight meeting, as forecast by all 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. He said in a statement that inflation is expected to near the RBA’s 2 percent to 3 percent target in the next year.