Future Fund chairman Peter Costello has downplayed the economic impact of any future interest rate cuts, saying deep-seated or "structural" reforms were instead needed to promote growth.

With financial markets putting roughly an 80 per cent chance on an official interest rate cut next week, Mr Costello on Thursday said lowering the cash rate from 1 per cent might result in a lower Australian dollar than otherwise, but would have a limited impact on the "real" economy.

"What will a rate cut do for the economy? In my view, not much,” Peter Costello said. Credit:Eamon Gallagher

Mr Costello, a former Treasurer in the Howard Coalition government who is also chairman of Nine, this masthead's publisher, said he thought a big part of why the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) was considering further rate cuts was because of a contest among central banks to have the lowest exchange rate.

Mr Costello described RBA governor Philip Lowe’s speech earlier this week, in which he said the RBA did not want Australia’s exchange rate to go up, as “very interesting”.