Agreed that there is a stronger case to pause and reassess the need for tightening.

Board considered rate hike in April, before deciding to pause.

Leading indicators suggested an improvement in property-related tweet at 9:32pm: RBA Minutes: Board Considered Rate Hike At April Meeting, Before Deciding To Pause -Agreed Stronger Case To Pause And Reassess Need For Tightening At Future Meetings RBA minutes show strong case to pause and reassess need for tightening at future meetings

Services sector activity, retail sales and industrial production had all recovered strongly in the first two months of 2023. Domestic economic activity in China had begun to recover rapidly in the early part of the year from earlier COVID-19-related disruptions. Wages growth had slowed in the United States and United Kingdom but remained above rates consistent with their central banks’ inflation targets. Central banks and Consensus Economics’ panel were forecasting that unemployment rates would increase gradually from their multi-decade lows in many advanced economies. Although job vacancy rates had declined, they remained unusually high. Employment growth had moderated in a number of advanced economies over the preceding six months. Members noted that labour markets had remained tight, but less so than a few months earlier. At the same time, some commodity prices had declined. However, members observed that very timely measures of activity in the services sector had been resilient survey measures of services output had remained solid in March in many countries and household sentiment in the United States had been little affected. Most of these indicators pre-dated the financial stability concerns and financial market volatility prompted by bank failures in the United States and Switzerland. The housing sector remained subdued in many economies, reflecting the tightening of monetary policy over the prior year.

Retail sales had increased in early 2023 in a few economies, although volumes generally remained below their peaks.

Indicators of domestic demand across advanced economies had been mixed. Nevertheless, inflation in advanced economies was still expected to decline over coming quarters as economic activity slowed and input price pressures continued to dissipate. Recent monthly core inflation data had been higher than expected in a range of advanced economies. Inflation in many economies had declined from earlier peaks but progress in returning inflation to target had slowed. Members commenced their discussion of the global economy by noting that inflation remained high and well above central banks’ targets.

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