The week ahead sees unemployment in the US, retail sales in Australia, sentiment surveys for manufacturing here, in China and the US and the main quarterly business confidence survey for Japan.

A week ago the federal government got a lot of publicity with a new estimate that the Australian population would rise to 35 million by 2048, a figure 7 million greater than previous estimates.

It’s now clear the Reserve Bank’s priorities have shifted away from the health and strength of the financial system, towards making sure it gets the timing right on the first of what could be a few rates rises.

Sunday sees the second major election this year for one of the world’s major economies when Germans go to the polls in a federal election that could see a subtle, but important change in the political landscape.

There’s no toss of a coin needed to see which will be the most important this week from the Group of 20 leaders meeting, or the two day Federal Reserve meeting in Washington a couple of days earlier.

It has been 12 months since US investment bank Lehman Brothers failed and set off a roller coaster ride for the global economy.