March 30th, Westpac chief economist Bill Evans said they confirmed the forecast published on March 17th that the Reserve Bank of Australia will decide to pause interest rate hikes at its April meeting. But the move is unlikely to mark the end of the tightening cycle as they expect the RBA to hike rates one last time by 25 basis points at its May meeting.
Evans said the minutes of the RBA’s March meeting included the unusual element that members agreed to reconsider the rationale for pausing rate hikes at their next meeting, recognizing that a pause would allow more time to assess the economic outlook.
Signaling the decision-making process at the upcoming meeting is something the market has not seen in previous minutes. This suggests that people may be more inclined to pause rate hikes.
