(RTTNews) - Members of the Reserve Bank of Australia's Monetary Policy Board said that consumer prices in the country are continuing to fall, minutes from the central bank's Dec. 5 meeting showed on Tuesday - but they remain too high.
Monetary policy is bringing aggregate supply and demand more closely into alignment, the minutes said, although output growth has slowed to below trend.
Labor conditions have loosened up from earlier in the year, although they remain tight.
At the meeting, the policy board of the RBA decided to maintain the cash rate target at 4.35 percent. The board also retained the interest rate paid on Exchange Settlement balances at 4.25 percent. At the November meeting, the bank had lifted the rate by 25 basis points to a 12-year high, ending a four-session long pause.
