Households have made larger voluntary repayments and they have also maintained higher balances in their offset accounts. Partly, this has been made possible by the higher tax refunds for low- and middle-income earners which have boosted disposable income. It is entirely understandable that households faced with low growth of wages and falling housing prices sought to repay their debts a bit faster.
Countries now have closer trade and financial relations than ever, so that the impact of major economies’ policies on international financial markets and the world economy comes back to influence themselves. For instance, we saw in 2013 during the Taper Tantrum that the Fed’s signal to change its monetary policy stance caused sudden capital outflows from emerging economies and global financial market unrest.