Economy

In the December quarter 2025, Australian GDP has increased by 0.8 per cent quarterly and 2.6 per cent annually, with an RBA rate hike, hold or cut depending on the results of April’s CPI report.

The labour market has rebounded from its previous flat patch, but economic uncertainty suggests growth could remain uneven throughout 2026.

Ranking higher as a risk than both climate change and armed conflict, a new era of economic statecraft is reportedly on the horizon.

The accounting body has stressed that the state of national productivity is enough to threaten economic growth, competitiveness and living standards without appropriate government action.

One employer association has stressed the need for policymakers to demonstrate the will to ‘turn things around’ amid deteriorating national productivity.

The US Supreme Court has struck down US President Donald Trump’s signature tariff policy, finding he had illegally used emergency economic powers to impose tariffs at his will.

The e61 Institute and McKinnon attribute the sustained federal and state government deficits to increasing fiscal pressures over the past two decades.

The Productivity Commission’s annual bulletin found Australia’s multi-factor productivity fell by 0.5 per cent in 2024–25, below the 20-year average of 0.4 per cent growth.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has found that the Wage Price Index in the December quarter 2025 has risen, with the public sector staying ahead of the private sector in wage growth.

While Treasury welcomed the release of the International Monetary Fund’s report on Australia’s financial dealings, the opposition went on the attack in the first Senate Estimates hearing of 2026.