That was the third time this year Michele Bullock and her board handed down an interest rate cut, but the minutes signalled even more relief could be handed down later in the year.
“Members agreed that – based on what they knew at the time of the meeting – preserving full employment while bringing inflation sustainably back to the midpoint of the target range appeared likely to require some further reduction in the cash rate over the coming year,” the minutes state.
“They also agreed that it was important for the pace of decline in the cash rate to be determined by the incoming data on a meeting-by-meeting basis.”
The monetary policy board will meet just three more times this year, with interest rate decisions to be handed down on September 30, November 4 and December 9.
The market is currently pricing in one more cut before the end of the year, which is what each of the big four banks are also forecasting.
Economists from the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and NAB are all predicting a 25-basis-point cut will be handed down in November, taking the cash rate to 3.35 per cent by the end of the year.
Westpac and NAB have also pencilled in a further cut in February.
The RBA said there was a chance it would need to cut rates faster or slower than expected, particularly related to the unemployment rate.
However, the board also noted that it is “not yet possible to judge between these alternative scenarios for the pace of future reduction in the cash rate, given the prevailing uncertainties”.
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