RBA Meeting Schedule 2026
The Reserve Bank of Australia's Monetary Policy Board holds eight meetings in 2026, each running two days. The cash rate decision is announced at 2:30pm Sydney time on day two — late evening in New York and the early hours in London — followed by the Governor's press conference at 3:30pm. Four meetings (February, May, August and November) also release the quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy, and those are usually the biggest days for the Australian dollar and ASX rate-sensitive stocks.
When is the next RBA meeting?
The next Reserve Bank of Australia cash rate decision is announced 29 Sep 2026 at 2:30pm Sydney time (12:30 AM ET / 5:30 UK), at the end of a two-day Board meeting on September 28–29. The Governor's press conference follows about an hour later at 3:30pm Sydney time. This is a statement-only meeting — no Statement on Monetary Policy.
- Decision date
- Tue 29 Sep 2026
- Statement time
- 14:30 AEST Sydney · 12:30 AM ET · 5:30 UK
- Press conference
- 15:30 Sydney (Governor)
- Statement on Monetary Policy
- No
- Minutes released
- Oct 13, 2026
- What's at stake
- Statement-only meeting days after the September FOMC — the Fed-RBA gap is the story for AUD/USD.
Track the data feeding this decision on the economic calendar, follow the wire on live news, or compare with the Fed meeting schedule.
2026 RBA meeting dates
| Month | Meeting | Decision day | Time (ET / UK) | SoMP | Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | 2–3 | 3 Feb 2026 | 10:30 PM / 3:30 | Yes | Feb 17, 2026 |
| March | 16–17 | 17 Mar 2026 | 11:30 PM / 3:30 | — | Mar 31, 2026 |
| May | 4–5 | 5 May 2026 | 12:30 AM / 5:30 | Yes | May 19, 2026 |
| June | 15–16 | 16 Jun 2026 | 12:30 AM / 5:30 | — | Jun 30, 2026 |
| August | 10–11 | 11 Aug 2026 | 12:30 AM / 5:30 | Yes | Aug 25, 2026 |
| September | 28–29 | 29 Sep 2026 | 12:30 AM / 5:30 | — | Oct 13, 2026 |
| November | 2–3 | 3 Nov 2026 | 10:30 PM / 3:30 | Yes | Nov 17, 2026 |
| December | 7–8 | 8 Dec 2026 | 10:30 PM / 3:30 | — | Dec 22, 2026 |
Source: Reserve Bank of Australia, scheduled dates of monetary policy meetings in 2026. Decisions are announced at 2:30pm Sydney time; press conference 3:30pm; minutes two weeks after each meeting at 11:30am Sydney time.
How to trade RBA days
Unlike the BoJ, the RBA keeps a fixed release time — 2:30pm Sydney — so the first AUD move is sharp and immediate. The statement leads with the cash rate call and the Board's vote split, which was introduced in 2024 and now tells you how close the decision was. The second leg runs through the Governor's 3:30pm press conference, where guidance on trimmed-mean inflation and the labour market matters more than the headline rate. On SoMP meetings, the forecast track for trimmed-mean CPI often moves AUD/USD more than the decision itself. Because the decision lands while Europe sleeps and New York is winding down, liquidity is thin — AUD moves can overshoot before London opens.
The RBA's 2026 policy backdrop
The RBA cut less and later than the Fed, ECB and Bank of England through the 2024–25 easing cycle, sticking with a cautious, data-dependent stance built around quarterly trimmed-mean inflation. That leaves the 2026 path unusually sensitive to each quarter's CPI print, which lands shortly before the May, August and November SoMP meetings. The other swing factor is China: iron ore demand and the yuan feed straight into Australian terms of trade, so shifts in Chinese stimulus often reach AUD/USD before any domestic data does.
Track it live on the desk
- Economic calendar — Australia CPI, jobs and retail prints that shape the RBA's path.
- 2026 FOMC calendar & interest rate decision dates — the other half of the AUD/USD story.
- ECB meeting schedule 2026 — euro-area Governing Council dates and projection rounds.
- Bank of England meeting schedule 2026 — MPC announcement dates and report meetings.
- Bank of Japan meeting schedule 2026 — the carry-trade counterweight for Asia-Pacific sessions.
- 2026 interest rate forecast — expected Fed, ECB, BoE and BoJ rate paths for the year.
- Live news feed — headlines as the statement crosses the wire.