Cup Day Rate Rise The Reserve Bank of Australia has chosen Melbourne Cup Day to raise interest rates again.
It lifted the cash rate to 4.35% at its November meeting with RBA governor Michele Bullock saying inflation is still too high.
Bullock says the Board of the RBA felt the increase was warranted to ensure that inflation would return to target in a reasonable timeframe.
Two of the big banks, ANZ and ING, raised their rates a few days ahead of the RBA November 7 meeting.
ANZ increased its fixed rate by up to 0.35 percentage points for both owner-occupiers and ivnetors on up to five-year terms. ING put its new customer variable rates up by 0.08 percentage points and fixed home loans up by 0.40 percentage points for owner occupiers.
The RBA kept rates on hold for the past four months with the last increase in June 2023. It raised rates in February, March, May and June.
Last week the International Monetary Fund warned that the Federal Government’s infrastructure spending was pushing the Australian economy beyond full capacity and said the RBA should lift rates to further reduce inflation.
