That remained the story through to the middle of 2003, as the Iraq war came and went, most international data looked on the soft side, the drought continued, and financial market sentiment waxed and waned.
The outlook for Australia was for moderate growth - quite a good outcome in the circumstances - but our feeling was that the risks stemming from international developments were tilted to the downside. Inflation, if anything, looked a little higher than had been expected, although our judgement was that in the medium term, it would still turn out to be consistent with the target.