Australian treasurer warns of economic slowdown ahead of GDP data

Sydney [Australia], February 29: The Australian economy is facing a significant slowdown but will likely avoid a recession, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Thursday.
Speaking from the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meetings in Brazil, he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that while inflation is falling in Australia, the country is "not immune" to weak global growth.
"We expect growth in our economy to be quite weak," Chalmers told ABC radio.
"And as we deal with this inflation challenge, we also need to deal with the fact that people have been under pressure and that's had consequences for growth in our economy."
The federal government will release the gross domestic product (GDP) figures for the final quarter of 2023 early in March.
Chalmers said on Thursday that he does not yet know how much GDP grew in the period but that markets are forecasting weak growth figures.
"There's an assumption that there will be a soft landing in the big economies around the world but that is not assured," he said.
According to the Australian Financial Review, economists have warned that GDP could have shrunk in the quarter for the first time since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when Australia went into recession.
Source: Xinhua