Australia pauses key interest rate at 3.6% after 10 hikes

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s central bank has left its benchmark interest rate on hold at 3.6% at its latest monthly meeting following evidence that inflation is falling.The meeting on Tuesday was the first at which the Reserve Bank of Australia board did not hike the cash rate since April 6 last year.Australia’s annual inflation appears to have peaked in December at 8.4%, falling to 7.4% in January and 6.8% in February.The bank manipulates rates to keep inflation within a target band of between 2% and 3%.Bank Governor Philip Lowe said his board had halted the rise in interest rates to observe the full impact of the rate hike of 3.5 percentage points since May last year.