At its last board meeting in December, the Reserve Bank of Australia put a new monetary policy alternative on the table for the first time this cycle: the option to pause its ultra-aggressive interest rate increases, which had hammered businesses and households with an unprecedented 300 basis points of borrowing rate rises in seven months.

This was, in fact, one of three possibilities canvassed by Martin Place’s economists. “The board considered several options for the cash rate decision at the December meeting: a 50 basis point increase; a 25 basis point increase; or no change in the cash rate,” the subsequently published minutes relayed.