CANBERRA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has announced that billions of dollars in infrastructure funding will be fast-tracked as part of an economic stimulus package.
In an expected speech to a Business Council of Australia (BCA) event on Wednesday night, Prime Minister Scott Morrison will announce how the government will respond to "uncertain" economic times.
The package includes 3.8 billion Australian dollars (2.6 billion U.S. dollars) for major projects in infrastructure spending, including 1.8 billion Australian dollars (1.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the next two years.
According to a draft of his speech provided to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday, Morrison is expected to say that along with additional drought aid and first stage of tax cuts his government since the election has provided significant near-term support of 9.5 billion Australian dollars (6.4 billion U.S. dollars) of "responsible" stimulus in two years at a "challenging time," warning against a "panicked reaction" to the current economic situation.
"A responsible and sensible government does not run the country as if it is constantly at DEFCON 1 the whole time, whether on the economy or any other issue," he is expected to say.
The Reserve Bank of Australia, the nation's central bank, has repeatedly called for the government to increase infrastructure spending in order to bring down unemployment and boost economic growth.
Australia's gross domestic product grew by only 1.4 percent in financial year 2018/19, the slowest rate in a decade.
Latest comments