Australians must urgently confront the danger that the Reserve Bank of Australia is nearing the very limits of its powers and risks stumbling into the same zero-interest rate trap that has neutered European and Japanese central banks, say two high-profile economists.

Saul Eslake, one of the nation's most experienced economists, and the ANZ Bank's top analyst, Richard Yetsenga, say the examples of major central banks around the world don't provide much hope that ever-more intensive monetary policy stimulus can resurrect inflation.