Fresh light to be shed on split interest rate hike call

详细摘要

Unemployment data will provide more information for the Reserve Bank on whether it will end the year with a sixth increase to the cash rate.

Reserve Bank board members were split on whether to lift interest rates for fifth time in a year.

But with some insight into why some of them held out to be revealed, fresh figures could soon force the central bank to lift rates even further.

Minutes for the Reserve Bank's November meeting will be released on Tuesday and will lay out in detail the reasons for the decision to boost the cash rate to 4.85 per cent, the highest level in 18 years.

Of the nine board members who set the cash rate earlier this month, three voted against a hike.

At the time of the decision, governor Michele Bullock said while the vote was not unanimous, further hikes could not be ruled out.

"It is critical that we stop expectations for high inflation from becoming embedded in price-setting decisions across the economy or the problem will only get worse," she said at the time.

Two key pieces of data being released later in the week will paint a clearer picture of how the economy is tracking and whether a successive increase to the cash rate was on the cards.

Labour force data for October will be handed down on Thursday, with economists tipping the unemployment rate to remain stable at 4.7 per cent.

NAB economist Josh Copeland said employment growth would likely be above 20,000 jobs for the month.

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