RBA Saw More Signs Low Rate Boosting Economy Amid CPI Puzzle

Australia’s central bank said a period of steady interest rates is likely as record-low borrowing costs and a weaker currency aid growth and it monitors prices after a surprising acceleration in inflation.

“There were further signs that the expansionary setting of monetary policy was having the expected effects,” the Reserve Bank of Australia said in minutes released today of its Feb. 4 meeting, where it kept the benchmark rate unchanged at 2.5 percent. “The board noted that it was likely the inflation reading contained some noise as well as some signal about inflationary pressures, but also presented something of a puzzle in interpreting the mix of activity and price data.”