The IMF said in November it would consider separately identifying allocations to the Aussie and Canadian dollar in its Composition of Official Foreign-Exchange Reserves report. That would influence central bank decisions to invest in these currencies, 67 percent of those polled for the RBS Reserve Management Trends 2013 report said.

“Ongoing demand for AAA rated credit may put a floor under the Australian dollar,” said Darcie Sunnerberg, a vice president and sovereign analyst at Boston-based Loomis Sayles & Co., which has $186 billion in assets under management. “Overall, fundamentals would suggest a weaker Australian dollar in the short-term,” she said in an e-mailed response to questions.

The Loomis Sayles Bond Fund had an Australian-dollar exposure of 3.5 percent as of March 31, compared with 3.6 percent at the end of last year. Sunnerberg predicts the Australian dollar will rise over a two-year-plus time frame.

Rate Forecast

Barclays Plc and Credit Suisse Group AG are among forecasters saying the currency will drop below $1 this year as slowing mining investment damps growth. Gross domestic product will probably slow one percentage point to 2.6 percent this year, according to the median forecast of economists polled by Bloomberg News.

A National Australia Bank Ltd. business conditions gauge slumped to its weakest in almost four years, an April 9 report showed. The nation’s unemployment rate will rise to 5.75 percent this year, the bank said.

The jobless rate climbed to 5.6 percent in March, the highest since November 2009, a statistics bureau report showed today. The number of people employed fell by 36,100, almost five times more than economists forecast, the data showed.

To arrest the slowdown and support the economy as a record mining investment boom slows, the RBA will cut borrowing costs to a record low 2.75 percent in the third quarter, economists in a Bloomberg News survey estimate.

The RBA reduced rates by 1.75 percentage points since Nov. 1, 2011, to rebalance the economy away from mining and toward industries including construction and tourism.

‘Quality Place’