Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he expects a substantial economic slowdown and for unemployment to pick up as inflation eases.
“As the Reserve Bank forecasts and the Treasury forecasts have inflation moderating over the coming months, they do have a tick up in unemployment as well,” Chalmers said Sunday on ABC’s “Insiders” program.
“I think the slowdown in our economy is expected in those forecasts to be significant, and that will have implications for the unemployment rate,” he said. The growth slowdown is “a consequence of higher interest rates and global economic uncertainty.”
Weaker data out of China “has been a focus” with its economy is showing “some worrying signs,” Chalmers added.
“As always we’re trying to take into consideration this really quite substantial global uncertainty,” he said. “It is having implications here.”
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Chalmers will travel to India later Sunday for the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meetings in Gandhinagar, along with outgoing RBA Governor Philip Lowe.
The trip comes days after the government named Michele Bullock as the new Australian central bank chief, with her early tasks including tackling the high inflation that has worried many households.
Earlier: New RBA Governor Bullock Seen as Slightly More Dovish Than Lowe
“We want to see as many people in jobs as we can but we’ve got to get on top of this inflation challenge, which is a primary challenge in our economy,” Chalmers said.
He also repeated his support for both Bullock and Lowe.
The leadership change “is more about the future than it is about the recent past,” he said.
