Australia's economy can't be fixed by stimulus alone, says former Treasury boss Ken Henry
Former Treasury boss Ken Henry says "something is desperately wrong" with Australia's economy, which is beset by "structural deficiencies" that cannot be fixed by interest rate cuts or government largesse.
The latest official economic growth figures, released by the ABS earlier this week, show Australia's economy continues to languish at some of its slowest growth rates since it narrowly avoided recession in the wake of the global financial crisis a decade ago.
However, in an exclusive interview with ABC TV's The Business program, Dr Henry said the nation's current economic weakness was potentially far more concerning because it appears to be driven by long-term "secular" problems, not a one-off shock.
"We're not in the situation that we were in in the global financial crisis when there was a big negative shock hitting the Australian economy, I think it's time to start asking ourselves the question whether this is a mere cyclical slowdown, or whether there's not a secular problem," he said.
Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-06/ken-henry-australian-economy-will-not-be-fixed-by-stimulus-alone/11773832
The latest official economic growth figures, released by the ABS earlier this week, show Australia's economy continues to languish at some of its slowest growth rates since it narrowly avoided recession in the wake of the global financial crisis a decade ago.
However, in an exclusive interview with ABC TV's The Business program, Dr Henry said the nation's current economic weakness was potentially far more concerning because it appears to be driven by long-term "secular" problems, not a one-off shock.
"We're not in the situation that we were in in the global financial crisis when there was a big negative shock hitting the Australian economy, I think it's time to start asking ourselves the question whether this is a mere cyclical slowdown, or whether there's not a secular problem," he said.
Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-06/ken-henry-australian-economy-will-not-be-fixed-by-stimulus-alone/11773832
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