SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s economic output is likely to fall by around 10% in the first half of 2020, with most of this decline taking place in the June quarter due to the hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, the central banker governor said on Tuesday.
The unemployment rate is likely to be around 10% by June, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe said. It was 5.2% in March.
“Whatever the timing of the recovery, when it does come, we should not be expecting that we will return quickly to business as usual,” Lowe said in a speech broadcast live on the RBA’s website.
“Rather, the twin health and economic emergencies that we are experiencing now will cast a shadow over our economy for some time to come.”
(Reporting by Swati Pandey; Editing by Kim Coghill)
