Economy
Following the Reserve Bank meeting in September 2023, the cash rate remained unchanged at 4.10 percent.
Inflation in Australia has passed its peak and the monthly CPI indicator for July showed a further decline. But inflation is still too high and will remain so for some time yet. The central forecast is for CPI inflation to continue to decline and to be back within the 2-3 percent target range in late 2025.
The Australian economy is experiencing a period of below-trend growth and this is expected to continue for a while. High inflation is weighing on people's real incomes and household consumption growth is weak, as is dwelling investment. Conditions in the labor market remain tight, the unemployment rate is expected to rise gradually to around 41⁄2 percent late next year.
According to the ABS, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Australia remained at 3.7 percent in August, with employment increasing by around 64,900 people and the number of unemployed only dropping slightly, by around 2,600 people. The large increase in employment in August came after a small drop in July, around the school holiday period.
The participation rate in Victoria saw a 0.3 percentage point decrease over the month to 67.5 percent while the unemployment rate dropped by 0.1 percentage points to 3.5 percent.
