closely watching these shifts in sentiment. https : / / www. rba. gov. au / speeches / 2019 / sp - gov - 2019 - 03 - 06. html 4 / 18 3 / 7 / 2019 the housing market and the economy | speeches | rba graph 4 explaining the recent cycle an obvious question to ask is what are the underlying, or structural, drivers of the large run - up in housing prices and the subsequent decline? there isn't a single answer to this question. rather, it is a combination of factors. before i discuss these factors, it is worth pointing out that the current adjustment is unusual. unlike the other four episodes in which housing prices have declined in recent decades, this one was not preceded by rising mortgage rates. nor has it been associated with a rise in the national unemployment rate. instead, in new south wales, where the recent decline in housing prices has been the largest, the unemployment rate has continued to trend down. it is now at levels last seen in the early 1970s. the unemployment rate has also trended lower in victoria. so, the origins of the current correction in prices do not lie in interest rates and unemployment. rather, they largely lie in the inflexibility of the supply side of the housing market in response to large shifts in population growth. it is useful to start with the national picture ( graph 5 ). australia's population growth picked up noticeably in the mid 2000s and it took the better part of a decade for the rate of home building to respond. it took time to plan, to obtain council approvals, to arrange finance and to build the new homes. not surprisingly, housing prices went up. eventually, though, the supply response did take https : / / www. rba. gov. au / speeches / 2019 / sp - gov - 2019 - 03 - 06. html 5 / 18 3 / 7 / 2019 the housing market and the economy | speeches | rba place. over recent times, the number of dwellings in australia has been increasing at the fastest rate in more than two decades. again, not surprisingly, prices have responded to this extra supply. graph 5 the population and supply dynamics are most evident in western australia and new south wales ( graph 6 ). during the mining investment boom, population growth in western australia increased from around 1 per cent to 3½ per cent. this was a big change. the rate of home building was slow to respond. when it did finally respond, it

savenaca narube : balance of payments - a central banker ’ s view opening address by mr savenaca narube, governor of the reserve bank of fiji, at the regional course on balance of payments and international investment position, suva, 11 - 22 april 2005. * * * introduction mr jon craig and mr michael andrews at pftac our course facilitators - mr jens reinke of the imf, mr mahinder gill - a former division chief of the balance of payments and external debt at the imf ) and mr paul mahoney of the australian bureau of statistics. distinguished delegates on behalf of the government of fiji and the reserve bank i would like to welcome you to and the workshop participants to this regional training course on balance of payments. this is the first regional course and supplements the existing courses held by the imf in washington d. c. and at the singapore training institute. i would like to extend my appreciation to the imf and pftac or organizing this course. these forums provide an excellent opportunity for statisticians and economists in the region to exchange knowledge and experiences. why is the balance of payments important? the balance of payments show a country ’ s transactions with the rest of the world. the balance of payments records all the flows of goods and services of a country with the rest of the world, and flows of other types of income into and out of the country. the current account brings all these flows together. it is important for domestic policy making because it shows that calls on a country ’ s foreign savings equals net savings in the domestic economy. so a deficit can reflect domestic conditions. this may be good - if it comes about because investment exceeds domestic savings, but it ’ s bad if its due to excess consumption. regardless of the cause of a deficit, a deficit has impact on debt and this can lead to crisis if debt becomes too large and reserves become too low. debt and reserves are recorded in the international investment position. so the balance of payments system is vital in economic policy making, because of the important relationship between external and domestic economic developments, timely, reliable, and comprehensive balance of payments statistics are an indispensable tool for economic analysis and policy making. indeed, with the growing interdependence of the world ’ s economies, the need for such statistics - which reflects in part the underlying movement towards greater liberalization and integration of markets - has increased over time. also, balance of