Australia's central bank keeps cash rate at 1.5 pct for record 19th straight month

SYDNEY, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has decided to keep the country's interest rate on hold at 1.5 percent on Tuesday, extending the period of no change to a record 19th straight month.

The central bank cited a slow down in employment growth, low inflation and high household debt as the reason for the decision.

"The low level of interest rates is continuing to support the Australian economy," RBA governor Philip Lowe said.

"Further progress in reducing unemployment and having inflation return to target is expected, although this progress is likely to be gradual."

Although the RBA said the "Chinese economy continues to grow solidly" and that financial conditions around the world generally remain expansionary, globally inflation still remains low.

The central bank also stated its concerns about the direction of international trade policy in the United States and the tightening of money markets.

"Conditions in U.S. dollar short-term money markets have tightened over the past few months, with U.S. dollar short-term interest rates having increased for reasons other than the increase in the federal funds rate," Lowe said.

"This has flowed through to higher short-term interest rates in a few other countries, including Australia."

The Australian dollar was largely unaffected by the read and was trading at 75.40 U.S. as of 16:00 (AEST). Enditem