The Reserve Bank has again left official interest rates on hold, where they have been since November last year.

The board has just handed down its decision after its fourth two-day meeting of the year.

It fits with what was generally expected by economists – no move from 4.35 per cent.

It comes as stalling progress on lowering inflation suggests borrowers will have to wait months longer for interest rate relief – the RBA is widely expected to keep rates on hold until at least late 2024.

“Inflation has fallen substantially since its peak in 2022, as higher interest rates have been working to bring aggregate demand and supply closer towards balance,” the bank board said in its statement explaining Tuesday’s decision.

“But the pace of decline has slowed in the most recent data, with inflation still some way above the midpoint of the 2–3 per cent target range.”

Surging inflation prompted aggressive interest rate hikes from May 2022, piling pressure on mortgage-holders. Comparison website Canstar says the higher interest rates are straining household budgets with monthly home loan repayments about $1500 higher on a $600,000 loan over 30 years compared to April 2022.

But the central bank’s last raise was now seven months ago – in November 2023.

At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate target unchanged at 4.35 per cent and the interest rate paid on Exchange Settlement balances unchanged at 4.25 per cent. https://t.co/5dtnTIw9im

— Reserve Bank of Australia (@RBAInfo) June 18, 2024

All 43 economists polled by Reuters had predicted the cash rate would stay there for a fifth meeting in a row.

The vast majority – 38 of the total – expect no change in the next quarter before cuts beginning in the final three months of the calendar year. Only one of the sampled economists expects the next move to be a hike.

While the economy has slowed to a crawl, as seen in the March quarter national accounts, inflation has proved persistent and the jobs market has been taking a long time to weaken.

The board also noted those developments – and reinforced a key message that has repeatedly accompanied its monthly decision to hold rates.

“The path of interest rates that will best ensure that inflation returns to target in a reasonable timeframe remains uncertain and the board is not ruling anything in or out,” it said.

The board also had other important data to pore over, including the March quarter national accounts, the Fair Work Commission’s decision to lift the minimum wage by 3.75 per cent (or about $33 a week) from July 1, and state and federal budgets.

Ahead of the bank’s announcement, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government had designed cost-of-living relief in the May budget, such as energy bill rebates, to “put downward pressure on inflation”.

“Unlike those in the Coalition, who are talking about the need for austerity budgets like we saw in 2014 that really hurt people, what we’ve done is create 880,000 jobs, and we are providing increases in real wages as well as tax cuts,” he told ABC radio.

“We want to make sure that we put inflation down without punishing people.”

Westpac senior economist Matthew Hassan said the past six weeks should give the RBA some comfort the economy was evolving as it had expected.

“But it will be looking for a bit more evidence around inflation before it can relax, let alone be confident enough about hitting its inflation target that it can start to shift its stance,” he wrote in a note.

The central bank has a 2-3 per cent target range for inflation.

In other data showing how higher rates are hurting across Australia, hardship rates are – unsurprisingly – also on the rise. Credit reporting agency Equifax reports a 21.5 per cent jump in the number of mortgage-holders seeking assistance from lenders.

Small businesses and sole traders are also under pressure, especially in construction and hospitality, with insolvencies at their highest point since 2015.

Nearly half of the 500 small business owners recently surveyed by YouGov on behalf of lender Prospa had either reduced their income or dipped into their personal funds to cover a business expense.

-with AAP