Westpac bank's CEO Gail Kelly expects the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to leave the official cash rate on hold for the first half of 2011.
Westpac's chief economist Bill Evans is predicting the central bank will lift the current rate by 0.25 percentage points just once in 2011, during the September quarter, Ms Kelly says.
"I think we can see them (interest rates) on hold for a while," she told ABC Television on Monday, noting the current rate of 4.75 per cent.
Ms Kelly says she failed to convey Westpac's "absolutely explainable" decision to lift its interest rates above the increase announced by the RBA in December 2009.
"I didn't do nearly a good enough job of getting out there personally to explain the factors," she said, referring to increased borrowing costs in the financial crisis.
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Those costs are expected to "plateau" towards the end of 2012, Ms Kelly says, and will likely result in Westpac's interest rates lowered beyond the RBA settings.
"There's no question that we will be passing benefit (including interest rates) on to customers."
