Australia’s household spending was flat in August, suggesting a weakening of demand in the economy as the Reserve Bank is expected to resume raising interest rates later today. Spending was little changed from the prior month, compared with economists’ forecast of a 0.4% gain, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed Tuesday. From a year earlier, it climbed 6.8%, coming in below a forecast 7.1%.

Recreation and culture led declines “after months of higher spending associated with major sporting events,” said Tom Lay, ABS head of business statistics. This was offset by higher transport spending. The Australian dollar was little changed, trading just above 70 US cents following the data.

Policy-sensitive three-year government bond yields held an earlier decline. The RBA raised borrowing costs at its first three meetings of the year, before holding at the past two gatherings, and is expected to hike for a fourth time to 4.6% this afternoon. The central bank led by Governor Michele Bullock is attempting to control inflation and has been aiming to slow the economy to cool consumer-price gains.

There are signs of emerging weakness in the economy. The housing market, which has connections with a number of industries, is in a multi-month downturn, and unemployment rose in the past two readings to stand at 4.6%. Bullock has said the jobless rate may need to climb toward 5% to help alleviate price pressures.

There was a notable gain in electric vehicles sales as households respond to rising fuel prices.