Govt is prepared to tackle ‘global economic headwinds’

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has cited "global economic headwinds", flooding and drought as factors that have seen Australia's economic growth stagnant, but insists the government has been planning for them. The global growth outlook has been slashed to the lowest in a decade after the International Monetary Fund downgraded its forecasts for Australia and backed the Reserve Bank's move to cut interest rates to a record low. The growth forecast has been cut from 2.1 per cent to 1.7 per cent - a figure below the government and RBA's forecast. Mr Cormann said "Australia is globally focused which also means globally exposed... if you look at the Australian growth outlook that the IMF has put forward, it's the highest of all of the G7 nations, except the United States". "We're into our 29th year of continuous growth, 1.4 million new jobs, the highest workforce participation on record, the lowest welfare dependency in three decades and we continue to be a AAA-rated economy," he said. Image: News Corp Australia

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