Australia · Interest & borrowing

The cash rate.
Across the decades.

Follow the earlier market rate and the announced policy target on one chart. Two colours mark the change in approach in January 1990.

Latest target change effective 30 September 2026 · Source published 29 September 2026

Cash-rate target

4.60%

Effective 30 September 2026

Latest target change

+0.25 pp

An increase of 25 basis points

Previous target

4.35%

The level immediately before the latest change

The cash rate through time

FromTo

See the figures

One chart, two ways of measuring rates

Teal: monthly market-rate averages, May 1976 to December 1989. This is the cost of very short-term borrowing in the money market, using the RBA’s published monthly averages. The earlier underlying measure was the 11am call rate. Monthly averages show the longer-term pattern without brief daily spikes dominating the chart. They are not mortgage rates.

Purple: the announced cash-rate target, from 23 January 1990. This is the policy level set by the RBA, shown until the next change takes effect. Some early targets were published as ranges, which appear as a shaded band.

The colours mark a change in both the measure and the policy approach. The line visually connects the last monthly average to the first target range; the join is not an extra observation. January 1990’s market average is omitted because that month spans the change. All rates are expressed per year.

Sources and definitions · RBA explanation of the change in policy operations

The target and the actual cash rate

The target is the policy level set by the RBA. The actual cash rate is measured from overnight transactions between banks and can differ slightly. From 23 January 1990, the purple part of the chart shows the announced target. The teal part shows the earlier published monthly market-rate averages. The RBA used the 11am call rate for this historical part of its series, rather than the later survey-based weighted average of overnight trades.

The dates here are when changes took effect. They are different from the date of a Board announcement. Unchanged decisions are not added to this change-event series.

A target change is a policy action. The chart does not predict the next decision or show the interest rate every borrower pays.

Earlier history includes ranges

Some early 1990 observations were published as ranges. They remain ranges in the table. The chart shows those target ranges as a shaded band in the target colour, without inventing a midpoint. Before 23 January 1990, the other colour shows the RBA’s historical market-rate series from May 1976 to December 1989, using official monthly averages. Its source notes identify the 11am call rate as the earlier measure. The two eras meet at the change in approach; they are not the same measure.

See the original target-change events

RBA A2 · Published effective dates, target levels and changes
Effective date	New target (%)	Change (percentage points)

Sources, definitions and calculations