Philip Lowe: The recovery, investment and monetary policy

Address by Mr Philip Lowe, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, at the AFR Business Summit, Sydney, 10 March 2021.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Thank you for the invitation to participate in this year's AFR Business Summit and it is great to be here in person. I would like to begin by congratulating the AFR on its 70th anniversary – that is quite an achievement in an industry with so much change. I look forward to many more years of business and finance reporting and analysis.

The timing of this year's summit coincides with a lift in sentiment about the global economy. The rapid development of vaccines and their rollout have improved the global outlook and lessened some of the downside risks. The plan for further fiscal stimulus in the United States has also improved growth prospects there. The result has been a reassessment by investors of the outlook for inflation and interest rates around the world.

Against this backdrop, I would like to begin by reviewing recent economic and financial developments. I will then turn to the importance of business investment in sustaining a strong economic recovery. Finally, I will discuss the outlook for monetary policy in Australia.