(20 February 2013 – Australia) Minutes released by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) show the central bank has a positive outlook for the economy, but is lying in wait for the effects of prior rate cuts to become apparent.The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) kept the cash rate at 3 percent at its first meeting of the year, after cutting it by a quarter of a percentage point at the previous meeting in December.
Further moves in the cash rate later in 2013 would be decided once it was seen how the recent cuts were flowing through the economy.
‘Interest rate-sensitive parts of the economy had shown some signs of responding to these lower interest rates, which were well below their longer-run averages, and further effects could be expected over time,’ the RBA minutes said.
The minutes also showed the RBA was confident on improving economic conditions in China and the United States, and was expecting the domestic economy to improve over the next few months.