The Reserve Bank board is expected to lift the cash rate for the fourth month in a row when it meets on Tuesday, with economists tipping a 50 basis point rise.
Premier Mark McGowan says international factors are driving inflation, after Perth prices rose 7.4 per cent in the year to June, Australia's highest rate.
Mark Barnaba's term as an RBA board member has been extended by one year as a review of Australia's central bank raises the possibility of a major governance shakeup.
Moves to lift the official cash rate show no sign of slowing, with the Reserve Bank indicating interest rates will need to be much higher to stop inflation.
ANALYSIS: Living standards are being hit and wealth shredded by rocketing inflation in the United States, but there's dramatic, and potentially telling, differences across countries.
Jim Chalmers has defended the government's frank rhetoric on inflation as the RBA has telegraphed more cash rate rises are on the cards to curb runaway price hikes.
Australia's benchmark interest rate is now at a three-year high following the RBA's decision to lift the cash rate target for the third time in as many months.
Confidence has dropped to its lowest level since mid-August 2020 as cost of living pressures mount, not helped by an expected further rise in interest rates.
Household spending helped to prop up economic growth in the early months of this year, although there was a marked slowdown compared with the strong finish of 2021.
Economists expect figures will show business investment picked up further in the March quarter, providing a boost to growth in the upcoming national accounts.
The cash rate could be expected to rise over time to 2.5 per cent, RBA governor Philip Lowe has said, while the central bank forecasts inflation could get worse before it gets better.
On today's episode of At Close of Business, journalists Matt Mckenzie and Jordan Murray discuss the RBA's reasoning for lifting interest rates, why more rises are expected, and what it means for the election.
The nation's benchmark interest rate has been lifted 25 basis points to 0.35 per cent by the Reserve Bank of Australia, as it seeks to respond to inflation running at 5.1 per cent.
Households are in a strong enough position to handle a rise in interest rates, Josh Frydenberg says, as the RBA appears to be losing patience with inflation.
The March ANZ job advertisement series is likely to point to a further decline in the jobless rate and quicker than being predicted by the RBA and Treasury.
Almost 25 years after rapper The Notorious B.I.G. released hit Mo Money Mo Problems, the song title may serve as a cautionary warning for central bankers.
A day after the announcement of Guy Debelle's resignation, Reserve Bank governor says there are strong internal candidates for the deputy governor role.
RBA governor Philip Lowe has told a business conference inflation could reach four per cent-plus as a result of the Ukraine war and the floods in Australia.
The announcement that international borders will open this month and signs that the COVID-19 Omicron variant peak has passed has lifted consumers' spirits.
