Infrastructure enables, rather than drives, economic prosperity, and it is important it keep pace with population growth, a key central bank official has stressed.
Reserve Bank of Australia assistant governor (Economic) Luci Ellis says it is unhelpful to consider infrastructure as a new engine of growth, taking up the baton from the mining and apartment investment booms, but as an enabler, which also brings significant social benefits.
"By its nature, infrastructure is justified by its contribution to the public good," she told an Infrastructure Partnerships Australia lunch in Sydney on Friday.
"It is not so much an engine of growth as an enabler of growth."
Ms Ellis said that although Australia was fairly well served by current infrastructure, investment would need to be ramped up in the future.
"With a strongly growing population, we face a challenge of ensuring that the stock of infrastructure keeps pace with expanding needs," she said.
"Utilities such as electricity and water, as well as transport links, need ongoing investment to accommodate a rising population."
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