ECONOMY
AUSTRALIA'S economic growth potential is suffering from a nasty case of withdrawal symptoms as migrants pack their bags for brighter work prospects back home.
In the latest sign the nation's minerals-fed golden goose is well and truly cooked, the Reserve Bank cited the slide in population growth as a key factor in its muted expectations for output expansion. 
Notwithstanding the cross-border exodus, the RBA said yesterday in its quarterly statement on monetary policy that Australia had grown at "a moderate pace" over the past year, leaving another cut to -interest rates on the outer.
In a broadly upbeat assessment of the economic health of the nation, the central bank presented a sunnier view of the workforce, suggesting it may now be of the view the jobless rate has peaked.
The RBA also appeared -satisfied the lower Australian dollar would continue to -weaken as the rebounding US economy neared its first rate rise in nearly a decade.
"A number of indicators of economic conditions have been more positive over recent months. In particular, labour force data have shown signs of improvement and measures of business conditions in the -n-on-mining sector are clearly above average," it said.
The RBA nudged down its forecasts for midterm GDP growth, as it did in its   May -update. Growth in the year to   June 2016 is now in a range of 2-3 per cent, down half a percentage point from three months ago.
However, growth the following financial year has been upwardly revised by a quarter of a percentage point to 3-4 per cent on the expected export gains from liquefied natural gas projects.
It said the unemployment rate - currently 6.3 per cent after 162,900 jobs were added in the seven months to   July - was forecast to remain "little changed over the next 18 months or so from recent levels, before declining over 2017".
That means it will be pencilling in numbers closer to six rather than 6.5 per cent, economists said.
Its forecast for underlying inflation was bumped back up to its 2-3 per cent target range as a result of the lower Aussie, currently sitting at US73.74c.The update comes as Australia's population spike earlier in the century, fuelled by a rush among workers in the 25-44 age bracket to join the mining boom, gets flipped on its head as the good times fade.