(Updated with details, comments)
SYNDEY, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Australia’s central bank on Tuesday raised its main interest rate by half a percentage point to 1.85%, but it was less restrictive on future rate hikes due to the slowing economy.
The magnitude of this rate hike, the fourth since May, was widely expected by the markets.
“The Board expects to take further steps in the process of normalizing monetary conditions over the coming months but it is not on a predetermined path,” said the governor of the RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia ), Phillip Lowe.
This remark is seen by observers as rather dovish given that Philip Lowe had repeatedly stated that the RBA Board wanted to bring rates down to a neutral level – one at which rates do not influence growth either up or down. the decline – to about 2.5%.
On the foreign exchange market, the Australian dollar fell 0.9% against the dollar.
“The statement was on the ‘dovish’ side, suggesting that discussions at the September meeting may well be about a 25 or 50 basis point hike,” said Adam Cole, strategist at RBC Capital Markets.
The central bank expects the consumer price index to peak around 7.75%, down from 7% previously.
Economic growth forecasts have been revised down to 3.25% for this year, and 1.75% for 2023. Previously, the RBA forecast 4.2% growth this year and 2.0% for the next year.
(Report Wayne Cole, French version Laetitia Volga, edited by Jean Terzian and Kate Entringer)