Australia's central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia, has made the decision to reduce its benchmark interest rate for the first time since October 2020. The cash rate has been lowered by a quarter percentage point from 4.35% to 4.1% at the bank's first board meeting for the year.
This move comes as the nation's inflation has shown signs of cooling, with a modest increase of only 0.2% in the December quarter and 2.4% for the entire calendar year of 2024. This is a significant decrease from the peak of 7.8% two years prior. The bank's objective is to maintain inflation within a target range of 2% to 3%.
