Australian interest rates have fallen to their lowest level in more than two years but “the job is not finished”, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.
He was speaking after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.60%, as widely expected.
“This is very welcome relief for millions of Australians,” Chalmers said in a statement.
Chalmers said this was the first time in almost two decades that rates been cut three times in a calendar year at the same time as the unemployment rate was below 5%.
“The three interest rate cuts we’ve seen this year would not have been possible without our collective efforts to get inflation down,” he said.
“Headline and underlying inflation have fallen to their lowest rates in almost four years, and are now both in the RBA’s target band."
The RBA’s statement made it clear inflation had fallen substantially since its peak in 2022 and was expected to “continue to moderate”.
Chalmers said inflation was falling, unemployment was low, real wages and living standards were growing again with more than 1.1 million jobs created, debt was down, the economy was growing and interest rates were falling.
“Today’s cut doesn’t mean the job is finished, but it will help,” he said.
“As the RBA noted in its statement, economic uncertainty and volatility are prominent and defining features of the outlook around the world, but all the progress we have made together holds us in good stead.”
