Australia’s central bank said it’s impossible to confidently predict the path for policy after raising interest rates for a second time this year as a surge in oil prices from the Middle East war fans inflation risks.
The Reserve Bank saw a risk that inflation would overshoot its target range for a “prolonged period,” minutes of its March 16-17 meeting showed, after it raised the cash rate to 4.1%. Board members discussed the case to leave policy unchanged but decided that the arguments for a hike were “stronger,” according to the record of the meeting released in Sydney on Tuesday.