Our January tradition continues, with resident economist Professor Neville Norman, of Melbourne University, setting out his forecasts for our key economic indicators in the year ahead. He expects positive growth to continue, though not at the same rate as in 2010. We can expect a more stable year politically, and he believes inflation has peaked. But dark clouds continue over global debt, sluggish retail activity and declining building approvals. On two sensitive indicators, he expects the Australia-US dollar exchange rate to stay in the low nineties after its flirtation with parity, and the Reserve Bank's cash rate to hover around 5 percent. Overall, a good year ahead, though not quite as good as 2010.
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