Given the state of the economy and inflation, it seems highly unlikely that interest rates will be going higher any time soon.
In fact, the Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) economics team expect rates to remain on hold until at least the end of 2022.
After which, if rates do start to rise, it will be almost certainly be a gradual process and take several years until they return to previous levels again.
While this is disappointing for income investors, all is not lost. The Australian share market is home to a good number of companies that look set to offer very generous dividend yields over the coming years.
But which dividend shares should you buy? Here are two that come highly rated right now:
Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1)
Accent is a leading leisure footwear-focused retailer that owns a number of popular retail store brands. It has been a strong performer in FY 2021, delivering first half like for like sales growth of 12.3% excluding stores closures. This performance went down well with Citi, which has put a buy rating and $2.60 price target on its shares. In addition, Citi is expecting the company to pay an 11 cents per share dividend in FY 2021. Based on the current Accent share price, this represents a fully franked 4.7% dividend yield.
Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO)
Thanks to favourable copper and iron ore prices, this mining giant has been tipped to pay bumper dividends to investors in FY 2021. According to a note out of Macquarie, it is expecting the mining giant to pay an ~$8.78 per share fully franked dividend this year. Based on the current Rio Tinto share price, this represents a massive 7.3% dividend yield. The broker has an outperform rating and $127.00 price target on its shares.
