RBA still likely to argue demand is exceeding supply
Updating RBA estimates of the output gap, RBA rhetoric on demand running ahead of supply seems unlikely to change much in the wake of slow growth in output in Q3.
Many market economists seem to think that the RBA’s concern over demand exceeding supply is no longer justified given GDP growth came in slightly below the RBA’s latest forecast.
However, barring the RBA significantly revising its calculation of potential output, we estimate that the average of the RBA’s range of estimates of the output gap remains positive at about ½%.
This is partly because the level of output was revised slightly higher over recent years even as GDP grew by slightly less than anticipated by the RBA.
Moreover, if the RBA’s outlook is broadly realised, the RBA still does not expect any slack to open up in the economy, with the average estimated output gap becoming more positive over time, picking up to about 1¼% by the end of 2025 and around 1½% by the end of 2026.
The same holds for expected spare capacity in the labour market, with the RBA not forecasting either the unemployment rate or the hours-based measure of labour market utilisation to exceed its average NAIRU equivalent over the next couple of years.
As we have previously argued, the RBA's forecast of demand continuing to exceed supply, both in terms of economic activity and the labour market, raises the risk that inflation takes longer to sustainably return to the 2½% midpoint of the inflation target range.
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