Reserve Bank interest rates: RBA lifts official cash rate to 0.35% in first rise since 2010

Central bank raises rate by 0.25 percentage points in a move that will stoke cost-of-living pressures ahead of federal election

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The Reserve Bank of Australia has lifted its official cash rate for the first time in more than 11 years in its first intervention in a federal election since John Howard lost office in late 2007.

The central bank lifted its cash rate target from the record low 0.1% it had hovered at since November 2020, during the depths of the Covid pandemic. It was raised more than expected to 0.35%, and the RBA signalled more rises to come.