Enjoy it while you can: July’s RBA rate pause is likely to be fleeting, unless a lot goes right

Inflation remains too high globally – and Australia’s may still be ‘out of whack’ by the time the board next meets in August

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

The relief many Australians felt when the Reserve Bank left its key interest rate unchanged might turn out to be fleeting unless a lot goes right with the economy in coming months.

Analysts were equivocal. The RBA’s rare inaction – only the second board meeting in 14 that it didn’t hike its cash rate – was variously a “hawkish pause” or a “coin-toss decision” (though not a stumping, perhaps fortuitously).