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Showing 11 - 20 of 54 results for "Lucky Country"

Chief economist update: Australian Renaissance

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 15 JUN 2020
... religious and political ideas." - Encyclopaedia Britannica There's an air of optimism up and about in this "Lucky Country", for while it would not escape a technical recession -- Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg acknowledged as much after the Australian ...

Chief economist update: China's beef with Australia

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 13 MAY 2020
'The Lucky Country' it may be but the year 2020 is not turning out well for Australia. Less than five months into the year and it has gone from devastation wrought by the bushfires, the lockdown forced on society by the coronavirus and, just ...

The great fall of China

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 20 APR 2020
... deep contraction (and its trickle-down effect on the rest of the world, mainly Asia), it would not prevent this lucky country from registering its first recession in 28 years. China's double-digit GDP growth (at the time) shielded Australia from the ...

Chief economist update: Surveys say...

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 17 APR 2020
If this is as bad as it gets, give me coronavirus everyday (well, hope not). The Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) reported that employment increased (yes, it's up) by 5900 in March and the unemployment rate ticked up by an itsy-bitsy-teenie-weenie ...

Chief economist update: AUD depreciation no cure for coronavirus

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 2 APR 2020
All good things must come to an end and this 'Lucky Country's' luck appears to have ran out after enjoying 28 years and a bit without an economic recession. Australia has survived economic and financial market upheavals over the past three ...

Chief economist update: Reversal of fortune

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 20 NOV 2019
Over the past few months, I've been singing sad songs about the Australian economy and the need for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Morrison government to do more to reverse the slowing momentum in economic activity in this 'Lucky ...

Chief economist update: Is the A$ becoming a safe-haven currency?

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 28 OCT 2019
As Glum (of Gulliver's Travels fame) puts it; "We're doomed, we'll never make it!" Speculation that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) may have to take the official cash rate to zero or even negative and/or start printing Australian dollars ...

Chief economist update: Will Australia avoid another global recession?

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 16 AUG 2019
... 5.8%. The 64 million dollar question is, would Australia's luck hold out or would it luck out? For sure, the "Lucky Country" would make it to its 28th year recession-free economic performance (the last recession was in the June quarter of 1991) with ...

Chief economist update: The rate cut Australia has to have

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 4 JUN 2019
Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe is set to be remembered in history as the man who took Australia's official cash rate from a historic low of 1.5% - set under Glen Stevens one month before he stepped down as RBA head honcho in September ...

Chief economist update: Like Britney Spears, Financial Standard's done it again

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 23 MAY 2019
"Chief economist update: Cash rate should be 1%"! This was my piece published on 7 March 2019, based on the 'Taylor Rule' and plugging in Australia's growth and inflation parameters at the time. It took two months and a few days before Reserve ...