(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Scott Morrison dismissed suggestions Australia could be heading toward its first recession in almost three decades, while conceding that economic growth data Wednesday would likely be “soft.”
“I don't see us going into that territory at all,” Morrison said in a radio interview in Melbourne on Wednesday, when asked if recession was a danger. “We will carefully and soberly look at what's happening in the economy.”
Gross domestic product likely grew 0.5% in the second quarter and 1.4% from a year earlier, according to economists' forecasts of data due at 11.30 a.m. in Sydney. That would be the weakest annual result since 2009.
The prime minister welcomed data released Tuesday that showed Australia achieved its first current-account surplus since 1975 due to surging iron ore prices, even as a report the same day showed retail spending fell 0.1% in July.
Morrison, 51, led his conservative government to an unlikely third term in May by campaigning almost primarily on delivering tax cuts and its economic record. Asked on Wednesday whether he should consider sacrificing a key election pledge -- returning the budget to surplus this fiscal year -- in a bid to stimulate the economy, he flatly rejected the idea.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Scott in Canberra at jscott14@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Chris Bourke, Michael Heath
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