RBA hikes official interest rate to 4.35% in blow to mortage holders

Reserve Bank of Australia raises rates for third consecutive meeting, lifting them to early-2025 levels

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The Reserve Bank has delivered a third straight interest rate hike, as it seeks to head off the inflationary threat from higher fuel prices linked to the ongoing US-Israel war on Iran.

A week out from what the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is simultaneously calling his most ambitious and responsible budget yet, the widely anticipated decision to increase the cash rate to 4.35% from 4.1% comes amid growing worries about the economic fallout from the Middle East conflict.