Another day, another bubble warning, this time from the UN, for what it’s worth. The Age reports:
Australia’s economy faces “sluggish” growth amid warnings of an asset bubble in the property sector that needs to be “closely monitored”, the United Nations says in its latest economic report for Asia and the Pacific.
The UN report forecasts economic growth for Australia of 2.8 per cent in 2014, “due to falling mining investments, fiscal restraint and fragile private consumption”, ahead of the 2.3 per cent set for 2013.
The slide in commodity prices, a driving force of growth in recent years, is adding to the economic slowdown in Australia against the backdrop of a “weak global economy”.
A key concern was a possible asset bubble in the domestic housing market. “The housing market is likely to strengthen, but the possibility of an asset bubble should be monitored closely,” the UN warned.
The UN said despite an “orderly depreciation” of the Australian dollar, monetary authorities should hold back from raising interest rates, as the decline “was needed to improve the competitiveness of non-resource sectors”.
I can’t find the original report so we’ll have the assume the MSM has transcribed it successfully.
