An acceleration in services inflation and the lowest unemployment rate in almost 50 years are unlikely to force the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates on Tuesday and economists tip the cash rate to remain on hold amid signs households are cutting back.

Twenty-one of the 30 economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the RBA to keep the cash rate unchanged at 3.6 per cent at Tuesday’s board meeting, while the other nine forecast a 0.25 percentage point rate rise. Markets are pricing almost no chance of an increase.