The cash rate was maintained at 4.10 percent today by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). After a long-awaited interest rate reduction in February, many mortgage holders are now anxiously awaiting further relief.

While inflation is continuing to ease, the RBA board said there were still “risks on both sides” and it was “cautious about the outlook”. It said it needed “to be confident” that progress would continue and inflation would return to its 2 to 3 per cent target band “on a sustainable basis”.

It reaffirmed, “sustainably returning inflation to target within a reasonable timeframe is the Board’s highest priority.”

Given the RBA’s hawkish tone last month, a back-to-back rate decrease was deemed unlikely. RBA governor Michele Bullock emphasized that last month’s cut did not suggest more were to follow.

With headline inflation falling to 2.4% in February, Australia’s inflation rate decreased once more.  When government subsidies and volatile goods are taken out of the equation, underlying inflation fell to 2.7%.

Some also believed that the board would err on the side of caution today due to uncertainty around the worldwide impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The board acknowledged tariffs were “having an impact on confidence globally and this would likely be amplified if the scope of tariffs widens, or other countries take retaliatory measures”.

“Inflation, however, could move in either direction. Many central banks have eased monetary policy since the start of the year, but they have become increasingly attentive to the evolving risks from recent global policy developments,” it said.

The board said monetary policy in Australia was “well placed to respond to international developments if they were to have material implications for Australian activity and inflation”.