The timing of Australia’s first interest-rate increase since 2010 will depend on progress in lowering unemployment and returning inflation to the midpoint of the central bank’s target, Governor Philip Lowe said.
“As things currently stand, we expect that progress to be steady, but to be only gradual,” Lowe said in his opening statement to a parliamentary panel in Sydney Friday. “Given this assessment, the Reserve Bank board does not see a strong case for a near-term adjustment of monetary policy.”