the us is a little bit further along than us, and rba, our central bank, generally is a lot more conservative and always looks to the us for guidance. what are the key factors driving the current interest rate movements in australia and how do they impact the economic outlook for the year? the economic outlook at this point is looking at a real gdp growth about 2% with inflation sitting at about mid single digit level. with the rate currently most economists expect no rise today and potentially three cuts by the end of this calendar year. our inflation rate, the last report was actually a lot better or undershot our central bank s forecast and hopefully that will be on its way down in the next few prints. how resilient is the australian economy then expected to be? you sound very optimistic about it. what are the key areas of strength but also areas perhaps of vulnerability? the australian economy s holding out well because consumers are still doing quite well, and with the r