The Reserve Bank of Australia held its key interest rate at 2.5% on account of the "substantial degree of policy stimulus" already in place, according to minutes from the board's September 3 meeting.

The board has lowered the key rate by 225 basis points since October 2011 and believes this has helped to push lending rates to "historically low levels", which is still feeding through to the real economy.

The board members agreed to "neither close off the possibility of reducing rates further nor