Key Points
- All the big four banks have passed on the Reserve Bank's latest cash rate rise of 0.5 per cent.
- Here's when the lenders will change their rates.
All the big four banks have passed on the Reserve Bank's latest cash rate rise of 0.5 per cent to their home loan borrowers.
Following to 1.35 per cent the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB and ANZ all followed suit on Wednesday with their variable mortgage rates.
Westpac was the last of the big lenders to announce the change, with the rise coming into effect from 12 July.
Westpac chief executive of consumer and business banking Chris de Bruin said several factors were considered in making the decision, including the official cash rate and ongoing increases in the cost of funding "as well as the needs of both borrowers and depositors".
The remaining three banks will introduce the rate change on 15 July.
For Commonwealth Bank customers, the standard variable rate for owner-occupied loans will increase to 5.90 per cent. Rates on other products have risen to 6.20 per cent, 6.38 per cent and 6.64 per cent.
Meanwhile, ANZ announced it would increase the bonus interest rate on some of its savings accounts by 0.5 per cent.
NAB will increase some of its term deposit accounts to 2.5 per cent in the wake of the rate changes,
The decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia to raise the official cash rate was the third in as many months.
The central bank board also flagged further rises, with some economists expecting the cash rate to hit 3.5 per cent next year.
The Reserve Bank is planning a series of rate rises to get inflation back to its target band of 2 to 3 per cent.
"The board is committed to doing what is necessary to ensure that inflation in Australia returns to target over time," Reserve Bank governor Phillip Lowe said in a post-decision statement.
Inflation and is over the course of this year.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday warned of tougher economic times ahead.
"It is going to be an incredibly difficult period for people, they should brace themselves for high and rising inflation and more rising interest rates, unfortunately," he told ABC Radio.
"But things will get better. It's the expectation of the Reserve Bank ... that inflation will moderate next year. It will come back down to more normal levels, that will obviously be a big release to people."
Dr Chalmers is expected to provide an economic update when federal parliament resumes at the end of the month, before handing down his first budget in October.
"The budget will be all about implementing an economic plan, which includes things like investment in skills, cleaner and cheaper energy, and more affordable child care," he said.
"If you're the treasurer in a new government, you need to focus on the things that you can influence.
"The constraints we have in our economy have been building for the best part of a decade."
The treasurer said while Australia was not expected to enter a recession, there could be economic consequences should that happen in the United States.
"They've got higher inflation, and they've got a central bank that's going to have to do a lot of work to try and rein that inflation in," Dr Chalmers said.
