Ending his tenure on a good note with mortgage holders, outgoing Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Philip Lowe has kept the cash rate on hold at 4.10% in his final board meeting today.
The decision was widely expected, with all economists from the big four banks in agreement that today's decision would be to hold.
It comes after data released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed inflation was at its lowest level since early last year, dropping to 4.9% in July.
Though this remains well above the RBA's target range of 2-3%, it is well below the peak of 8.4% in December 2022.
Separate ABS figures also revealed households have reined in their spending.
Household spending was 0.7% lower when compared to July last year.
ABS head of business statistics Robert Ewing said households have curbed their spending over the last 12 months amid higher interest rates and inflation.
“Spending on discretionary goods and services was down for the fourth straight month. It fell 3.3 per cent over the year, as households adapt to cost of living pressures," he said.
More to come...
Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash
