Ho ho…uh oh: Economy not so calm or bright ahead of Christmas
The Australian economy "hit a wall" in the September quarter, which is fuelling criticism of the RBA's interest rate hikes.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers looked sombre when he stood up in Parliament House today, half an hour after the latest GDP figures were published.
“Our economy is resilient in parts but we know that these are hard times for a lot of Australians,” he said.
The latest figures show growth in the Australian economy is slowing, and fast. It grew by a mere 0.2% over the September quarter. That result was far weaker than consensus expectations (for a growth of 0.5%).
Chalmers did his best to put on a brave face and provide “context”, noting the gender pay gap is the smallest it has ever been, there’s still relatively low unemployment, the government has delivered the first surplus in 15 years and there’s been two quarters of real wage growth.
