A bright future ahead
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has decided this week to keep interest rates on hold given the recent softening in Australian economic data, but now the Federal election is out of the way and the Liberal Party has maintained control the out-look is bright with confidence growing in all areas.
The RBA has left official interest rates unchanged at 5.25 per cent, having last raised them in November and December 2003, in two quarter of a percentage point moves.
HSBC senior economist Anthony Thompson foresees ?more resilience in the numbers going forward", and that this should provide the RBA with some ammunition to justify a 25 basis point rate increase around the end of the year although others are now forecasting no change until March 2005.
.