Rate rise unlikely in Australia - economist

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board meets today to decide if it will lift the official cash rate above 6.25 per cent but an economist says it is unlikely home owners will face a rate increase this month.

Westpac chief economist Bill Evans says inflation is at a two-year low and that should persuade the central bank to keep interest rates on hold.

"Reserve Bank has made it very clear that they are running their policy on the basis of current inflation measures," he said.

"The inflation that we saw last week was much lower than anyone expected and with that in the bag it would be very unlikely that they would see the need to raise interest rates.

"I don't think we'll see anything more this year - we've had two very low inflation numbers."

The Reserve Bank will announce its decision on Wednesday.

- RADIO AUSTRALIA