As anticipated, the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia has kept its 4.35 per cent cash rate on hold for the fifth time since late last year. Yet the flow of data leading into yesterday’s monetary policy decision renews concerns that, with a cash rate still low by international standards, the central bank has again not done enough to tame Australia’s sticky and above-target rate of inflation.

The March quarter consumer price index indicated that underlying inflation has stalled at close to 4 per cent, annual employment growth is running at 377,000 and the jobless rate remains at close to a 50-year low.