The Reserve Bank of Australia lifts official cash rate to 0.35 per cent in first hike after 11 years. Source: William West/AFP/Getty Images
The Reserve Bank has lifted the official interest rate to 0.35 percent, less than three weeks out from a federal election focused on the cost of living pressures being felt by households across the country.
Following its May board meeting this afternoon, the RBA's governor Philip Lowe confirmed a 0.25 percentage point increase.
It is the first-rate increase in official interest rates since November 2010 and the first intervention by the bank during an election campaign since 2007.
The increase is likely to be the first of a series aimed at slowing inflation, which reached 5.1 per cent in the year to the end of the March quarter.
