Invest
Revealed: The official cash rate call for March
Amid growing speculation that a rate cut is on the cards, the Reserve Bank has today announced its decision on the official cash rate for March 2019.
Revealed: The official cash rate call for March
Amid growing speculation that a rate cut is on the cards, the Reserve Bank has today announced its decision on the official cash rate for March 2019.
The RBA has again decided to leave the official cash rate unchanged at 1.50 per cent for this month, making it the 30th consecutive month the cash rate has been on hold.
This is in line with economists' predictions for March, however, many of the nation's leading economists are now saying a cash rate cut is drawing closer.
Speaking about today's announcement, My Housing Market chief economist Dr Andrew Wilson said the Reserve Bank is still waiting for GDP data from the December quarter to be released on March 6 before it makes any major moves.
“If there is another weaker than expected result, the odds will narrow for a pre-Budget, pre-Federal Election cut in either April or May,” said Mr Wilson.
“Although recent wages data was reasonable, the RBA has conditioned the market to now expect a long-needed cut to attempt to revive consumption - which is now likely to also be impacted by continuing weaker housing markets,” he said.
Further, AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said while things aren’t yet weak enough to push the RBA to cut, they aren’t strong enough to push it to hike either.
, Mr Oliver said the softening of property prices will continue to depress consumer spending, which will ultimately entice a rate cut.
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