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AAP
AAP
Politics
Poppy Johnston

New insight into the logic behind February rate rise

Reserve Bank Goverrnor Philip Lowe has fronted two parliamentary hearings since the rate rise. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

The reasoning behind the latest hike to the official cash rate will be revealed in the minutes from the Reserve Bank's February board meeting.

The RBA lifted interest rates by another 25 basis points in February, taking the cash rate to 3.35 per cent.

The central bank's governor, Philip Lowe, has since fronted two parliamentary hearings where he was grilled about the RBA's trajectory for monetary policy.

He said the inflation rate was still "way too high" at 7.8 per cent annually in December quarter and the cash rate was unlikely at its peak.

NAB markets economist Taylor Nugent said the minutes from the meeting, due on Tuesday morning, were unlikely to add much to the deluge of communications of late.

"At the margin we might find out whether the RBA board considered a 50bp increase," he said.

Also on Tuesday, ANZ and Roy Morgan will release their weekly consumer confidence survey, which plummeted after the February rate hike.

The index sunk 5.5 points to 78.1 last week, its lowest level since early April 2020 at the start of the pandemic.

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