Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens has warned Australia faces fiscal problems in the medium term because social programs have not been fully funded.

Mr Stevens on Friday told federal politicians of the House Economics Committee that he does not believe the nation has an imminent budget problem.

“Our fiscal issue is medium term,” he told the committee in the first of his twice-yearly hearings in Sydney.

“There are some social programs that we all think are very good, that we are committed to do, and they are not fully funded.”

However, he said in comparison with most advanced countries, Australia has at this point comparatively low government debt.

He said it was good to see some countries, like the US getting its budget deficit in order, but their debt burden is considerably higher than Australia’s.

“We have issues and problems that need to be dealt with but we’re not in the same camp than say many countries in Europe,” he said.

He said if governments borrow money but invest in infrastructure, then while there is debt, there is also an asset that has an earning that can help service the debt, “so the country is richer”.

If on the other hand they borrow the money and waste it somehow, then they are more likely to end up in a situation where the debt lingers.

“It matters what you do with the money, and I think that in some of the countries that are in most fiscal trouble, and I don’t think we are … they haven’t used the money to build the wealth of the country,” he said.