The RBA's latest quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy shows its decision to leave rates on hold at 4.1 per cent in August was a close call, and is taking a 'wait and see' approach for future interest rate meetings.
Without a major overhaul of its forecasts, recent weak retail sales figures and business liaison reports appear to have convinced the RBA that it is wise to wait and see just how quickly consumer spending is coming down in response to the rate increases it has already implemented.
"Sales growth at hospitality venues has moderated slightly. Domestic tourism demand has declined, driven by reduced spending on leisure travel. "Firms expect that residential construction activity will start to decline from the latter part of this year due to very low sales of new homes over recent quarters feeding through to a lower level of work to be done," the liaison team reported.Liaison suggests that employees in those sectors — retail and construction — are most at risk of losing their jobs, or at least some hours of work, with hiring already starting to dry up.
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