IMF Urges Australia to Keep Further Rate Increases Available as Inflation Persists

Australia, 17 September 2026 – The International Monetary Fund has urged the Reserve Bank of Australia to remain prepared for further interest-rate increases if persistent inflation and uncertain financial restraint require them. The assessment reinforces a difficult policy balance: suppressing price pressures without unnecessarily weakening activity, while energy costs and weak productivity complicate the outlook.

In its latest economic assessment, the IMF identifies returning inflation to target as a near-term priority. It warns that additional global energy-price increases could strengthen second-round effects and raise inflation expectations. Further tightening is conditional on those risks and domestic pressures; the assessment is not an announcement that the RBA has changed its policy rate or a commitment to a particular meeting outcome.