Make: CanonModel: Canon EOS-1D Mark IIIDate/Time: 2008:05:06 13:31:30
THE Reserve Bank is keeping an active watch on the strength of the Australian dollar when setting interest rates.
RBA governor Glenn Stevens today told a parliamentary committee the exchange rate was still higher than would be expected considering the official cash rate is at record low of 3 per cent.
Future rate cuts remain under active consideration, he said as the economy is likely to grow a little bit below the level of 2012.
But Mr Stevens was upbeat the rate cutting cycle that has seen official rates drop by 1.75 per cent since November 2011 was having an "effect'' and the property market was showing signs of recovery.
"Housing prices have been rising since last May, having declined for a period prior to that,'' he said. "Share prices have also risen quite significantly and, if anything, by a little more than in comparable markets overseas."
"The returns available to savers on safe assets like bonds and bank deposits have fallen by enough to prompt Australian savers to consider shifting their portfolios towards other assets.
"These are channels of monetary policy at work,'' Mr Stevens said.
He also said the high level of household savings was a good thing and more normal than the pre-GFC period when household debts outstripped savings levels.
"Households do not feel the same ebullience they did for some years prior to the financial crisis in major countries. But that degree of confidence, with its associated patterns of saving and increasing leverage, was unusual, and is not likely to recur,'' he said.
The RBA governor also admitted that while the eurozone has avoided catastrophe it is still faces immense challenges that could derail the global outlook.
But Mr Stevens was upbeat the US economy was on the road to recovery and was as likely to surprise on the upside as it was to shock on the downside over the coming 12 months.
Meanwhile, the RBA said the mining investment boom is close to its peak.
Mr Stevens said he expected investment in the mining sector to peak soon, though it would remain at elevated levels for some time.
"Looking ahead, it appears that the peak in the level of resource sector investment is now close," he said. "It is a very high peak, but we do not think that there will be a rapid decline in the near term after the peak."
Mr Stevens said investment spending in other parts of the economy remained subdued but would strengthen following the peak in the mining sector.
"Investment spending by businesses in other sectors has thus far remained somewhat subdued in comparison," he said. "There are good reasons to expect it will strengthen in due course, but the available indicators at present do not suggest that is going to happen in the very near term."
With AAP.
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