Australia holds interest rate

SYDNEY: Australia has left its key interest rate unchanged at a record low – as expected – amid the slowing of a hiring boom.

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Philip Lowe kept the cash rate at 1.5%, where it has stood since late 2016, as the central bank waits for inflation to strengthen. The nation’s jobs growth has declined to a three-month annualised pace of 1.2% in 2018 from a blockbuster 3.4% for the whole of last year, Westpac Banking Corp estimates.