Former Reserve Bank board members have backed governor Philip Lowe's view that the wealth effect - where falling house prices start to eat into spending - is nowhere near severe enough to justify cutting rates and argue fiscal policies such as tax cuts would work better.

Disappointing retail sales growth of 0.1 per cent, seasonally adjusted, for January reinforces economists' concerns around consumption growth, but the second-highest trade surplus on record - also released on Thursday - of $4.5 billion shows the windfall of high commodity prices is still playing out.