Senate debates

Monday, 9 September 2019

Questions without Notice

Economy

2:06 pm

Photo of Mathias CormannMathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

I refer Senator Wong to the most recent budget, where the growth forecast for 2018-19 was 2¼ per cent, and that is in on-average, through-the year terms. The actual growth rate, in real terms, is 1.9, which is slightly below what was anticipated, because some of the downside risks—which we pointed to in the budget—have eventuated. But let me also tell you that nominal growth is actually higher than we anticipated at budget time. We forecast nominal growth of five per cent at budget time for 2018-19, and we have recorded 5.3 per cent nominal growth. So, nominal growth is slightly higher; real growth has come in slightly lower. We're not making any secret about the fact that the Australian economy is facing global economic headwinds. We're not making any secret about the fact that we're dealing with downside risks in the domestic economy, from floods and drought and so on. But we are dealing with it, and our policy agenda makes Australia stronger compared with the alternative. (Time expired)

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