Australia will avoid recession but economy to slow significantly: treasurer

CANBERRA, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Australia's treasurer has said the country will avoid a recession but warned the economy will slow significantly.

Speaking after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its latest global outlook report, downgrading global growth forecast to 2.8 percent for 2023, Jim Chalmers on Wednesday said Australia will not be immune from global headwinds.

Australia's gross domestic product grew by about 2.7 percent in 2022, and the IMF expects growth to fall to 1.6 percent in 2023 and 1.7 percent in 2024.

The forecast is in line with projections from the treasury, which has predicted a 1.5 percent growth in 2023 and 2024.

"The situation in the world has become more complex and more challenging even over the course of the last few months, and so we won't be completely immune from that," Chalmers told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio on Wednesday ahead of flying to Washington for meetings with Group of 20 counterparts.

"The treasury does expect our own economy to slow considerably later this year because of that combination of a slowing global economy and the impact of higher interest rates here at home as well."

Chalmers in May will hand down his second federal budget since taking office in 2022.

He said the government had to thread the needle on providing cost-of-living relief for Australians without adding to inflation.

"We need to lay the foundations for future growth in our economy, at the same time as we try and make ourselves more resilient to these sorts of international shocks," he said.