(Bloomberg) -- Reserve Bank of Australia No. 2 Andrew Hauser said it would be a “bad mistake” to formulate policy in response to a single inflation report, pointing out there’s a suite of economic data still to come that will need detailed analysis.

“There’s a lot for us to reflect on ahead of the meeting in August,” Hauser, deputy governor at the RBA, said in response to a question in Sydney on Thursday. “It would be a bad mistake to set policy on the basis of one number and we don’t intend to do that.”

The Australian dollar softened after Hauser spoke, while Australian bonds climbed for the first time in three days when markets opened Friday. Still, traders are pricing a better than even chance of an interest-rate hike this year. There’s little prospect of a cut until late in 2025. 

Fears the RBA could resume tightening policy at its Aug. 5-6 meeting gained momentum after a partial gauge of consumer prices released this week showed inflation accelerated to 4% in May, well above the central bank’s 2-3% target. 

“The number we spent a bit of time talking about earlier is only partial and that’s something I’m not used to from the UK,” Hauser said in reference to the monthly consumer price indicator. “There’s a whole series of data coming out between now and when we meet in August.”

Hauser, a former Bank of England official, cited forthcoming reports on employment, retail sales, business surveys and a complete overview of consumer prices in the second-quarter inflation report due on July 31.

“The comments overnight from RBA Deputy Governor Hauser took some of the heat out of the move this week, but fragility remains,” said Martin Whetton, head of markets strategy at Westpac Banking Corp. in Sydney, referring to overnight-index swaps and the bond curve. “The inflation expectations of Q2 data will be important as it shapes up to be one of the more consequential prints,” he wrote in a note to clients.

While the central bank has raised rates to a 12-year high of 4.35%, it has moved more cautiously than many international counterparts. That’s sparked questions over whether it has more to do on rates, especially when officials say they’re not ruling anything in or out on policy. The RBA also said the board discussed a hike at each of its last two meetings.

Australia is struggling with the so-called last mile of inflation. Hauser, asked earlier about persistent services prices, said it’s possible monetary policy is taking longer to feed through the economy, adding that a strong jobs market may also be a factor.

The deputy governor is a member of the RBA’s rate setting board. He was speaking at a Citigroup Inc. event.

--With assistance from Matthew Burgess.

(Adds market reaction in third paragraph and analyst comment in seventh.)

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