The Sydney Morning Herald --- Page: 19 : 2 April 2007 Original article by Jessica Irvine
ABIX Summary
There is little certainty about what action the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will take on interest rates in April 2007. The central bank has to decide whether to take pre-emptive action against inflation or wait three weeks for official inflation data and risk a rate rise closer to the federal election. Although there is political pressure on the RBA to raise rates earlier in the year if it intends to so do, governor Glenn Stevens has indicated he is strongly independent by telling a parliamentary committee that interest rates will be increased later in the year if need be. Commonwealth Bank of Australia chief economist, Michael Blythe, said there does not yet exist a case for another rate rise.
