The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has hinted in its April 6 board meeting minutes that another raise can be expected in May, as it lifted the cash rate to 4.25 percent following the meet and marking the rate's fifth upward movement since October last year.

The central bank said that strong demands for Australian commodities have led them to bump up rates twice in a row in spite of its March 3 announcement that interest rates are gradually moving towards normal levels.

In its last meeting, the RBA said that the country's terms of trade in 2010 is predicted to be much stronger than what is forecasted in the February Statement on Monetary Policy and should translate to solid growth in nominal incomes for the Australian economy throughout 2010.

The meeting's released minutes also showed that RBA is banking on the expected output growth of the global economy, which should reach established models within the next few years.

As for the local economy, the RBA is anticipating up to 3.5 percent growth as against an inflation forecast of 2.5 percent within the year, all indicating that the economy is normalising and leading the central bank's board members to support the need for further rate jumps in the months ahead.

Analysts, though, are entertaining the idea that an increase in April would not necessarily be duplicated in May, citing that RBA had used the word "gradually" in its March 3 board meeting minutes.

On that meet, RBA was quoted saying that, "On the question of timing, the fact that the prospective rise in the terms of trade was now likely to be noticeably stronger than had been expected was a factor suggesting that it might not be prudent to delay adjustment."

Since the released version of the minutes offered no specific reference to a gradual adjustment, the latest round of increase should point to the RBA's present focus on the much anticipated boost from the growing terms of trade and its move for another rate hike that could hit come May.