Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan has called Australia's biggest home lender selfish for lifting its mortgage and business lending rates.
Other banks have refused to rule out following the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's surprise Friday decision to lift its rates by 10 basis points to offset higher funding costs.
CBA said that it did it "reluctantly", but that the standard variable mortgage rate of 5.74%, up from 5.64%, was still the lowest on the market. The bank said it had absorbed as much of its additional funding costs for as long as it could.
Such reasoning drew no sympathy from Mr Swan, who said he could think of few decisions more selfish. "I think Australians, rightly, will be furious with the Commonwealth Bank," he told reporters in Brisbane.
We are all in this together - Rudd
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd echoed those sentiments during a speech to a business lunch in Brisbane.
"We are all in this together - businesses, workers, government and the Reserve Bank - and today's decision by the Commonwealth Bank runs counter to this nationwide effort," Mr Rudd said.
The other three major banks - ANZ, National Australia Bank and Westpac - say their rates are constantly under review.
