Australian central bank keeps cash rates at record lows amid economic rebound

The Reserve Bank of Australia kept its cash rates at record lows on Tuesday. The central bank also reaffirmed its lower-for-longer policy stance despite recently published data showing the country’s more-than-expected economic growth.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) held on to its 0.1% policy settings for a sixth straight meeting. The Australian dollar fell to $0.7740, coming from a one-week high of $0.7769 reached earlier in the day.

 Moreover, the RBA reiterated it will not increase interest rates until inflation was “sustainably” within its 2-3% target band.

Strong economic figures released earlier in the day change analysts’ forecast on a higher scale for Australia’s first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth to a rapid 1.6% from 1% before the data was released.

Another set of data reflected Australia’s home value index soared 10.6% in May from a year ago to post its strongest annual growth rate in more than a decade.

First-quarter GDP data is due at 0030 GMT on Wednesday.