Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Brockman for that very important question. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has released a very important report overnight which shows the devastating effects that COVID-19 and the COVID-19 pandemic are having on the world economy. Importantly, what the OECD report shows is that Australia is leading the developed world in its economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. The OECD expects economic growth in Australia to rebound, despite the global economy facing, 'the deepest recession since the Great Depression', with the loss of income exceeding 'any previous recession over the last 100 years outside wartime, with dire and long-lasting consequences for people, firms and governments'. The OECD is forecasting global growth to fall by at least six per cent in 2020, and that is in the absence of a second wave of infections. To put this in context, global growth fell by just 0.1 per cent in 2009 during the so-called global financial crisis and is now forecast to fall by at least six per cent, as long as we can avoid a second wave of infections.

According to the OECD, the outlook for Australia is the third best among all OECD members. The OECD forecast for Australia is for GDP to contract by five per cent in 2020 before bouncing back to 4.1 per cent growth in 2021. Australia's economic outlook for 2020 compares remarkably well with other countries. The United Kingdom is forecast to contract by 11.5 per cent, France by 11.4 per cent, Italy by 11.3 per cent, New Zealand by 8.9 per cent, Canada by eight per cent and the United States by 7.3 per cent. Indeed, the OECD average contraction is 7.5 per cent— (Time expired)