Australia Keeps Rate, QE Unchanged

Australia's central bank retained its benchmark interest rate at a historic low and quantitative easing unchanged on Tuesday.

The board of Reserve Bank of Australia, governed by Philip Lowe, decided to maintain the cash rate and the targeted yield on three-year government bonds of 25 basis points.

The board also retained the parameters for the expanded Term Funding Facility.

The bank said it will maintain highly accommodative policy settings as long as is required and will not increase the cash rate target until progress is being made towards full employment and it is confident that inflation will be sustainably within the 2-3 percent target band.

"The Board continues to consider how additional monetary easing could support jobs as the economy opens up further," the bank said.

Policymakers assessed that the national recovery is likely to be bumpy and uneven and it will be some time before the level of output returns to its end 2019 level.