Key events
‘We can’t be complacent’: Chalmers on World Bank warning
Treasurer Jim Chalmers welcomes a “blunt warning” from the World Bank against policymakers.
The global economy is set to slow for a third year in 2024 – the World Bank has warned it is now on course for its weakest half-decade of growth since the early 1990s.
Poor countries were being especially hard hit by a series of setbacks since the arrival of the Covid pandemic, and there was a risk that the 2020s would be a “wasted” decade.
Chalmers says on ABC Radio National:
I think this this kind of blunt warning from the World Bank is welcome. We can’t be complacent about the conditions we confront. Our job in Australia is to make this not a lost decade, but a defining decade to modernise our economy and maximise our advantages. And that’s why we are deploying a textbook combination of cost of living relief to help people through difficult times, investing in a stronger economy in areas like skills and housing, the energy transformation technology, the care economy and human capital.
We’re under no illusion about the global difficulties, but also the pressures that people are under here in Australia. And that’s what motivates our agenda.
Australia in relatively good position to face economic uncertainty: Chalmers
As the foreign economy is expected to slow through the year, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says Australia will be entering a period of uncertainty from a position of relative economic strength.
He said on Radio National this morning:
We do have faster jobs growth than any of the major advanced economies. We’ve created more than 700,000 jobs through the life of our government. We’ve had two consecutive quarters of wages growth. Inflation is moderating, though not as fast as we would like. We’ve delivered the first budget surplus in 15 years, and there’s a second one in prospect.
All of these things put us in a better stead to confront this global economic uncertainty, which has been outlined so starkly in the World Bank report.
Good morning
Rafqa Touma
And welcome to another day on the live blog.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will be in Victoria this afternoon with the state’s acting premier, Ben Carroll, “having discussions with him about ways in which we can assist” after the state has been battered by wet weather and floods. Albanese says “considerable support” has already been given to Queensland – which was also inundated early this year – and will be announcing additional support for the tourism sector.
The consumer price index for November is being released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today, including the first inflation release for 2024. Economists are expecting a slowdown in inflation thanks to heavy discounting in holiday sales.
And the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is speaking to press this morning about these inflation numbers coming out later today, as well as the government’s flood emergency response.
If you see anything you don’t want us to miss, shoot it my way on X (Twitter) at @At_Raf_.
Let’s go!
