Reserve Bank of Australia Deputy Governor Ric Battellino acknowledged that domestic policies are only able to do so much in an environment where the U.S. and Europe are leading the global slowdown. “There are limits on how much we can insulate ourselves from what is happening abroad,” the deputy said. “There are probably some difficult times ahead,” he added.
Difficulty may be an understatement; annual output is “likely to fall in 2009,” he said.