The Reserve Bank of Australia has kept interest rates on hold at 2.50%. This is the last cash rate decision for the 2013 year. Most economists expected interest rates to be unchanged for the Christmas break.
The Reserve Bank noted many items in its statement on Monetary Policy. Of note was the Reserve Bank’s statement that exchange rates were still “uncomfortably high”. This is of significant interest to the Reserve Bank with an high exchange rate making manufactured exports noncompetitive in the global economy.
The Reserve Bank commented on a number of other issues. Primary among them dropping level of mining based investment. The Reserve was confident that the economy would continue picking up from levels in 2013.