RBA should hold off on rate hikes

AAP

THE Reserve Bank has been told to hold fire on further interest rate hikes until it gets a better handle on the strength of the Australian economy.

The central bank earlier in March raised its cash rate for a fourth time since October indicating more increases were needed to get monetary policy back to what was a regarded as a normal level.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry believes there is an opportunity for a pause.

"In at least in the first half of this year," director of economics and industry policy Greg Evans told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

There was a number of risks internationally and the Reserve Bank should wait to see how robust the economic recovery was once a number of the government's stimulus measures was wound down, he said.

"The Reserve Bank should take the opportunity to get a better handle on the economy to see to what extent that this is a private sector led recovery before it moves too aggressively on interest rate movements," he said.