TICKY FULLERTON, PRESENTER: What can be done about the high Aussie dollar? If you believe the pundits, not much. The board of the Reserve Bank meets next week to deliberate on interest rates amid growing calls to try to rein in the Australian dollar. Despite commodity prices falling and the slowdown in China, the Aussie remains stubbornly above parity with the greenback. And for now at least, it appears to have given up its role as the shock absorber for the economy.

Andrew Robertson reports.

ANDREW ROBERTSON, REPORTER: The Australian dollar has long been known as a commodity currency and commodity prices are falling, so why hasn't the dollar gone down with them?

HANS KUNNEN, CHIEF ECONOMIST, ST GEORGE BANK: Yes, commodity prices are softening, but they're still way above where they were three, four, five, six years ago. And with our interest rates relatively high, I just see it staying around parity.

ANDREW ROBERTSON: It's that differential with other countries the Reserve Bank is under pressure to reduce to make the Australian dollar less attractive to investors looking for that interest rate return. But St George Bank's Hans Kunnen says don't hold your breath waiting for a rate cut on that basis.

HANS KUNNEN: The Reserve Bank doesn't have the Australian dollar in its key performance indicators. Its remit is keep an eye on inflation. It's not just part of their game to play with a currency.

ANDREW ROBERTSON: The RBA will react at times if the dollar swings violently, but Commonwealth Bank currency strategist Joseph Capurso points out that movements in recent times have been orderly.

JOSEPH CAPURSO, CURRENCY STRATEGIST, COMMONWEALTH BANK: The last time they intervened to support the Aussie was in 2008. That's only because liquidity in the Aussie dollar dried up during the GFC. But we certainly don't have those liquidity problems now.

ANDREW ROBERTSON: Adding to the upward pressure on the Aussie dollar is that like the Swiss franc it's now seen as a safe haven for investors wanting to escape the economic woes of Europe and the US. The Swiss central bank has spent billions trying to keep a lid on the franc, but CBA's Joseph Capurso believes even if the RBA wanted to follow suit, it wouldn't work.

JOSEPH CAPURSO: The Aussie dollar has about three times more liquidity than the Swiss franc. So controlling the Aussie dollar would be a lot more difficult for the RBA than it is for the Swiss National Bank.

ANDREW ROBERTSON: Put simply, the Reserve Bank doesn't have the money.

KPMG's Nicki Hutley believes the interest rate differential and safe haven status are adding 15 cents to the dollar's value. Which, she points out, means the Australian dollar would still be very strong without those forces.

NICKI HUTLEY, DIRECTOR OF ECONOMICS, KPMG: The Australian dollar has moved to a new structural level, and from time to time I hear companies say, "Oh, when the Aussie gets back to 70 cents." And I say to them, "You are not going to see that, certainly not in my lifetime."

ANDREW ROBERTSON: Nicki Hutley thinks the removal of the interest rate and safe haven premiums from the Australian dollar is firmly in the hands of a central bank, but not Australia's.

NICKI HUTLEY: If you saw the slightest sign that the US economy was doing a little bit better and that that no change in interest rate policy was suddenly a now we're going to review interest rate policy so there was a slight bias towards raising rates, I think you would see a very quick turnaround in the currency.

ANDREW ROBERTSON: But that's a long way off and it won't be helped by the strength of the federal budget. The Treasurer has revealed the final position from last year's budget was $700 million better than expected and he's sticking by his forecasts for a return to surplus this year.