Skip to content
Markets

Australia Set for Consecutive Half-Point Interest Rate Hikes

  • 19 of 24 economists see a half-point increase in July to 1.35%
  • Goldman forecasts cash rate will reach 2.6% by end of the year
Philip Lowe, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Philip Lowe, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
Updated on

Australia’s central bank is poised for its first ever consecutive 50 basis-point monthly interest-rate increases as policy makers intensify efforts to rein in escalating inflation, economists and traders predict.

The Reserve Bank of Australia will raise its cash rate to 1.35% next month from a current 0.85%, according to 19 of 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg between June 9-13. They have been revising up their forecasts following Governor Philip Lowe’s bigger-than-expected hike last week.