The RBA announced yesterday that the official interest rate will be raised by 25 basis points to reach 3.25 per cent, the first rise since March 2008 and making Australia the first industrialised nation to raise rates since the global economic downturn hit last year.

The RBA has cited Australia’s comparatively strong economic position to justify the rise, though Printing Industries‘ national manager for policy and government affairs Hagop Tchamkertenian (pictured) claimed it would have been preferable to maintain the 3 per cent rate until the first quarter of 2010.

“Rising interest rates will impact negatively on the printing and associated industries as these industries rely on retail and consumption activity,” Tchamkertenian said.

“Our internal research is showing that business in our industry will also be impacted by rising interest costs as almost 27 per cent of our survey respondents [in the Printing Industry Trends Report] have indicated that they will be increasing their business borrowings over the next 12 months.”

“Let us hope that the economic recovery does indeed prove to be durable. Otherwise there is an increased risk of a potentially-durable recovery becoming a fragile one due to premature rises in interest rates.”

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