Perspective: Stand by for loads of look-over-there spin from Josh Frydenberg when he unveils the mid-year budget update today, writes Ross Gittins | 1RossGittins
At a time when the Prime Minister is refusing to accept that our weak economy needs a boost rather than a drag from the budget, stand by for loads of look-over-there spin from his unfortunate Treasurer Josh Frydenberg when he unveils the mid-year budget update today.
Yes, but at present almost all our growth is coming from high immigration-fed population growth, not rising prosperity. As AMP Capital’s Dr Shane Oliver has noted, our annual growth in gross domestic productis just 0.2 per cent, compared with America’s 1.4 per cent, Japan’s 1.6 per cent and even the Eurozone’s 1 per cent.
Next, we’ve seen our current account on the balance of payments “return to surplus for the first time in more than 40 years”. Not sure whether this boast is a sign of our Treasurer’s economic illiteracy, or his assessment of ours. Only the same people who think now’s a good time for the budget to take more out of the economy than it puts back – that is, return to surplus – would be foolish enough to think a current account surplus was a sign of economic strength.
This is the very opposite of the truth. Since growth in consumer spending was a negligible 0.1 per cent during the quarter, the vast private sector of the economy actually went backwards, with what little growth we got coming from the much smaller public sector and from net exports.
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