RBA Minutes: May meeting would be opportune time to reconsider

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) published the Minutes of its April monetary policy meeting on Tuesday, which showed that board members agreed the  May meeting would be an opportune time to reconsider, decision was not predetermined.

Additional takeaways

• Not yet possible to determine timing of next move in rates.
• Not appropriate at this stage for policy to react to potential risks.
• Possible that global uncertainty over U.S. tariffs could have significant impact.
• Global risks to growth had increased, were tilted to the downside.
• Board saw risks on upside and downside for Australian economy and inflation.
• Important to safeguard progress on inflation and not ease policy "prematurely".
• Labour market still considered tight, labour costs too high and productivity low.
• Possibility labour market not as tight as thought, wage growth could continue to slow.
• Trimmed mean inflation likely fell below 3% in Q1.
• Data pointed to genuine improvement in consumer demand, beyond just sales events.
• Board considered run down of RBA government bond holdings, saw no reason to change pace.
• Governance board to consider risks in scale and maturity of bond holdings.