speeches / 2019 / sp - so - 2019 - 10 - 04. html 8 / 13 10 / 4 / 2019 lumps, bumps and waves | speeches | rba graph 6 waves from decisions other waves can come from ‘ inside ’ the system, from the business decisions people make and the business models people adopt. a change in business structure can change how the economy operates and how economic variables relate to each other. a good example of this in australia has been the increasing degree of competition in retailing, partly resulting from the entry of large global retailers to the australian market. it wasn't so long ago that australia's retail landscape looked very different, with few of the global retailers that populated the shopping centres of large cities overseas. that has changed over the past decade, especially in groceries and clothing retail ( graph 7 ). https : / / www. rba. gov. au / speeches / 2019 / sp - so - 2019 - 10 - 04. html 9 / 13 10 / 4 / 2019 lumps, bumps and waves | speeches | rba graph 7 the effect on pricing models has been profound. after a long period where retail prices tended to rise at roughly the same rate as inflation generally, for the past decade or so, these prices have been flat to falling. this is a big change in pricing behaviour for some important parts of the consumer price index. the question of how long this shift will last has been a key issue for us as we compile our inflation forecasts. markets can open up to new players right across the economy. as we mentioned in our most recent in august, some parts of australia's manufacturing sector are performing strongly and seeing their exports increase. this upswing is most evident in scientific instruments and in medicinal and pharmaceutical products ( graph 8 ). in some cases this is driven by a small number of australian firms, so you could argue that these are lumps not waves. but once markets open up to one player, they generally stay open. this is another development that we have factored into our forecasts, and again we have to grapple with the question of how long it will go on. statement on monetary policy https : / / www. rba. gov. au / speeches / 2019 / sp - so - 2019 - 10 - 04. html 10 / 13 10 / 4 / 2019 lumps, bumps and waves | speeches | rba graph 8 decisions by firms and other economic actors can also have wave effects at the

bank, trusted for our analysis and service delivery. now in the second year of this initiative, we have made significant progress, but much work remains. we are an organisation with a broad set of responsibilities : we regulate the payments system and run the infrastructure used to settle payments ; we provide banking services to the australian government, making payments that many australians rely upon ; we issue banknotes that, despite an overall decline in cash transactions, remain an integral part of the australian economy ; and we monitor and contribute to financial stability in cooperation with other authorities. we remain committed to communicating clearly with the public about what we do and why. because of this breadth of responsibility, our transformation is complex. it involves enhancing leadership capabilities, creating a more open and dynamic culture, streamlining operations for greater efficiency, and building resilience – goals shared by many organisations across australia. an often - overlooked aspect of our role is our involvement in running the critical infrastructure used to settle payments. we are at the core of this system, ensuring it functions in a way that can be relied upon by the households and businesses that make up our economy. we are also the regulator of the payments system, with a mandate to promote competition, efficiency, and safety of the payments system. in practice, nearly every electronic payment in australia relies on the infrastructure operated by the rba – whether it ’ s tapping a card for public transport, receiving a salary, or transferring money – and many are processed in real - time. last financial year, the rba settled approximately three million payments daily, worth almost $ 260 billion dollars – an amount equivalent to australia ’ s gdp roughly every ten days ( graph 6 ). graph 6 rits interbank settlement activity * daily averages, quarterly'000 $ b volume ( lhs ) value ( rhs ) s d m j s d m j s d m j s d m j * excluding fss transactions. source : rba. think of the payments system as a train network, with the economy as the train moving vast volumes of transactions. we lay and maintain the tracks that keep money flowing throughout the economy, supporting a strong financial system and efficient payments. as the payments ecosystem evolves, new players like digital wallets and ‘ buy now, pay later ’ services have emerged, enhancing competition and consumer choice. however, these new entrants also introduce risks that may fall outside our current regulatory scope. proposed amendments to the payment systems ( regulation ) act aim to bring these new players