Latest bank decision: At its meeting on 20 August, the Central Bank decided to leave its policy rate unchanged at...
RBA Cash Rate in Australia
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) maintained relatively low policy rates for much of the last decade. Post-financial crisis, rates saw a cycle of lowering to support GDP growth, reaching historic lows during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, monetary policy was then tightened sharply, with the policy rate rising to over 4% through end-2024, as the RBA looked to ward off inflation. In 2025, the Bank has shifted towards normalizing policy amid easing price pressures.
The rba cash rate ended 2024 at 4.35%, compared to the end-2023 value of 4.35% and the figure a decade earlier of 2.50%. It averaged 1.98% over the last decade. For more interest rate information, visit our dedicated page.
Australia Interest Rate Chart
Note: This chart displays Policy Interest Rate (%) for Australia from 2014 to 2024.
Source: Macrobond.
Australia Interest Rate Data
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RBA Cash Rate (%, eop) | 0.10 | 0.10 | 3.10 | 4.35 | 4.35 |
| 90-Day Bank Bill (%, eop) | 0.02 | 0.06 | 3.17 | 4.35 | 4.44 |
| 10-Year Bond Yield (%, eop) | 0.97 | 1.67 | 4.03 | 3.96 | 4.37 |
Central Bank leaves rates unchanged in September
Latest bank decision: At its meeting on 30 September, the Central Bank decided to leave the cash rate at 3.60%, following 75 basis points of cuts earlier in the year.
Bank opts for cautious approach: The Bank decided to pause its easing cycle to assess the impact of past rate cuts, against a backdrop of recent signs of recovering private demand, a stable labor market and persistent inflation in some areas of the economy.
Rate cuts to continue: The Bank’s forward guidance was open-ended. Almost all our panelists forecast 25 basis points of further rate cuts later this year, though a few see rates unchanged. Further monetary easing is likely next year but should be mild, with our Consensus for a terminal cash rate of around 3%.
Panelist insight: On the outlook, Goldman Sachs analysts said: “Overall, we still lean towards a rate cut at November’s Board meeting for several reasons. Firstly, we do not expect Q3 inflation to surprise sufficiently to the upside to derail the RBA’s medium term forecasts for on-target inflation. Second, we do not view the labour market as inflationary and expect conditions will continue to gradually soften. And third, we expect less restrictive policy settings will be required to sustain the rebalancing of growth towards the private sector.”
Consensus Forecasts and Projections for the next ten years
How should you choose a forecaster if some are too optimistic while others are too pessimistic? FocusEconomics collects Australian interest rate projections for the next ten years from a panel of 22 analysts at the leading national, regional and global forecast institutions. These projections are then validated by our in-house team of economists and data analysts and averaged to provide one Consensus Forecast you can rely on for each indicator. By averaging all forecasts, upside and downside forecasting errors tend to cancel each other out, leading to the most reliable interest rate forecast available for Australian interest rate.
Download one of our sample reports to visualize what a Consensus Forecast is and see our Australian interest rate projections.
Want to get access to the full dataset of Australian interest rate forecasts? Send an email to info@focus-economics.com.
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