Members of the Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy board figure the Australian economy will see a gradual slowing in the short term before recovering, minutes from the bank's October 4 meeting revealed on Tuesday.
There remains a high degree of uncertainty in the domestic labor and housing markets, the minutes showed - although exports have provided stability.
"Over the past year, the Australian economy had continued its transition following the end of the mining investment boom. Over the year to the June quarter, GDP growth had been a little above estimates of potential, driven mainly by growth in resource exports that had been stronger than expected a year earlier," the minutes said.
But since global inflation is largely beneath the target range for most central banks, the bank was able to take no action and monitor the effects of the stimulus already in place.
The economists see no significant change in the outlook for inflation, so the prospects for a rate cut at the November board meeting are remote.
"The board judged that holding the stance of policy unchanged at this meeting would be consistent with sustainable growth in the economy and achieving the inflation target over time," the minutes said.
At the meeting, the RBA decided to keep the benchmark lending rate unchanged at the record low 1.50 percent after reducing the rate by 25 basis points in both August and May.
The central bank observed that low interest rate has been supporting domestic demand and the lower exchange rate since 2013 has been helping the traded sector.
Although these factors are assisting the economy to make the necessary economic adjustments, an appreciating exchange rate could complicate the process, the bank said.
"Recent data were consistent with further moderate growth in the September quarter. This implied that, in year-ended terms, growth was expected to decline somewhat in the near term before rising gradually," the minutes said.
Also on Tuesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that the total number of new motor vehicle sales in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 2.5 percent on month in September, coming in at 100,640.
That follows the downwardly revised flat reading in August (originally up 0.1 percent).
Sales for sports utility vehicles jumped 1.6 percent on month and other vehicles gained 0.1 percent, while passenger vehicle sales fell 0.4 percent.
By region, the largest downward movement across all states and territories was in the Australian Capital Territory (-1.0 percent).
On a yearly basis, sales added 0.8 percent - slowing from the downwardly revised 2.8 percent gain in the previous month (originally 2.9 percent).
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Economic News
What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.