The Reserve Bank has kept the cash rate unchanged, saying the economy is improving but it will be some time before unemployment drops consistently.

There have been emerging signs of improvement in investment intentions in sectors of the economy other than mining, but those plans remain tentative as companies wait for more evidence of improved economic conditions, governor Glenn Stevens said in a statement after the July board meeting.

“Overall, the bank still expects growth to be a little below trend over the year ahead,” he said.

“There has been some improvement in indicators for the labour market in recent months, but it will probably be some time yet before unemployment declines consistently.”

The RBA stuck by its stance that it has held since the beginning of 2014 that there will “a period of stability in interest rates.”

Mr Stevens also indicated he was still concerned about the level of the Australian dollar.

“The exchange rate remains high by historical standards, particularly given the declines in key commodity prices, and hence is offering less assistance than it might in achieving balanced growth in the economy,” he said.

The cash rate remains at 2.5 per cent, where it has been since a quarter of a percentage point cut in August.

JP Morgan economist Ben Jarman said the RBA had repeated the same themes as previous months, using slightly different language.

Concerns about economic growth expressed in the June meeting minutes were absent from the July statement, he said.

“The minutes from the last meeting did sound more dovish with concerns about the (economy) rebalancing and that falling short of expectations, but you don’t get much sense of that in today’s statement,” Mr Jarman said.

“There’s been a bit of a change in the language around the exchange rate, which is not doing what the economy wants.

“But for those who were looking for the RBA to go a bit harder on the currency language, they haven’t really delivered that.

“They’ve really said the same thing but with refreshed wording.”