New Treasurer Jim Chalmers with Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy, Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe, and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb at parliament house on Wednesday.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Treasurer Jim Chalmers on the ‘spiky’ parts of Australia’s inflation problem
Michelle Grattan speaks with the New Treasurer Jim Chalmers as he intends to deliver a "pretty blunt, pretty frank" assessment of Australia's challenges to parliament soon after it returns
Inflation, a slowdown in China and recessions in the US and elsewhere are big risks. Labor’s mandate is limited. It needs to build the case for an expanded one now.
Our experts weigh up the winners and losers in a budget that had to balance an immediate cost-of-living crisis with long-term ambitions for health and climate change.
Food inflation is hitting people across the board in multiple countries.
Getty images
Russia’s invasion isn’t only devastating the lives of ordinary Ukrainians but is also disrupting global supply chains and increasing poverty around the world.
An ethanol refinery in Chancellor, South Dakota.
AP Photo/Stephen Groves
Allowing the sale of gasoline that’s 15% ethanol year-round won’t have much impact on gas prices, but recent research shows that growing corn for fuel affects the climate – for the worse.
Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Why raise rates now, for the first time in more than a decade? If the Reserve Bank isn’t careful, too many more rate hikes like this might help bring on a recession.
A soft landing may be out of the Fed’s reach.
Oliver Furrer/Stone Getty Images
The Federal Reserve is expected to lift interest rates a half point at its next meeting and more in the coming months, but it may be too late to forestall an economic downturn.
In the face of rising food prices in Nigeria, many salary earners have had to change the quality of foodstuff they buy or opt for cheaper alternatives.
Tracking changes in net wealth is one of the best ways to see who benefited from economic growth.
Chris Rogers/Photodisc via Getty Images
Philip Lowe mightn’t be a household name but the Reserve Bank governor finds himself catapulted right into the centre of this election campaign, in which events are proving more important than policies.
University of Canberra Professional Fellow Michelle Grattan and University of Canberra Associate Professor Caroline Fisher discuss the week in politics
