Addressing federal politicians in Canberra, Dr Lowe said recent economic growth and employment outcomes have been at least as good as the upside scenario the central bank published last year.

These reflect Australia's success on the health front, the very significant fiscal and monetary support that has been provided and resilience of Australians during the pandemic.

"The result is that Australia has done better than most other countries on both the health and economic fronts," Dr Lowe told a parliamentary economics committee hearing on Friday.

"There are few places in the world you would rather be."

At the same time there has been a strong rebound in global trade in goods.

"This, together with the continuing strong recovery of the Chinese economy, has boosted many commodity prices and Australia's terms of trade," Dr Lowe said in his opening statement.

But he said the more important piece of positive news in terms of the global economy is the development of vaccines.

"These vaccines hold out the prospect of restrictions being eased and many activities returning close to their pre-pandemic normal," he said.

"The result is a more positive outlook for the global economy and a lessening of some of the downside risks."

But he said it is prudent to be prepared for further setbacks.

Earlier this week the Reserve Bank board kept the cash rate at a record 0.1 per cent at its monthly meeting, and predicted it will stay there until at least 2024.

Meanwhile, in a further sign of the economy recovery, new figures show the services sector is growing at its fastest pace in over a year.

The Australian Industry Group performance of services index rose by 1.4 points to 54.3 over the past two months.

"With a considerable way to go before a full recovery can be claimed, the more convincing lift in new orders is an encouraging pointer to continuing recovery over coming months," Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox said.

Australian Associated Press