Australian Economy

It is a darkly amusing irony.

And Australia will get the absolute worst of it.

Via the AFR: Suppliers have alleged a formal or informal agreement between leading fresh food companies, including fruit and vegetable suppliers, to withhold supply from Kaufland was one of the factors contributing to its shock decision on Wednesday to withdraw from Australia before opening its first store.

Yesterday’s ABS labour force release for December revealed a mixed outcome for Australia’s youth labour market – i.e.

Transparency International has released its latest corruption index, which reveals that Australia is among 21 nations where perceived corruption has worsened “significantly” over the past eight years.

Via CBA: The latest Commonwealth Bank Flash Composite PMI® signalled a continued decline in business activity in January.

Via Domain: National fashion chain Jeanswest will shut nearly 40 stores across the country, running the tally of retail store closures to over 200 in the new year.

The hits keep on coming for Victoria’s beleaguered West Gate Tunnel Project.

As summarised earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today released its labour force report for December, which registered a 28,900 increase in total employment and a decrease in the headline unemployment rate (from 5.2% to 5.1%).

Via UBS: Wholesale electricity price futures are sharply lower Our updated wholesale electricity price forecast expects prices will average $74/MWh across the National Electricity Market (NEM) in CY20, declining to $70/MWh in CY21—reflecting a material revision down from our prior forecast.

Some blather from SEEK today: SEEK data shows that a large proportion of Australians are looking and actively applying for interstate employment opportunities.

But not weak enough for RBA’s meeting, I suspect.

It’s reeling from bushfires, via The Australian: Hoteliers and tourism executives say the “worst summer on record” has cost the nation $2bn and could wipe a further $4.5bn from the industry, as Tourism Australia unveils the first part of its multi-layered bushfire rescue package.

We’ve been warning that Recessionberg is lying about infrastructure (as well as a lot of other stuff).

More evidence has emerged that Black Friday dampened Christmas retail sales, with NAB’s Cashless Retail Sales Index recording an annual rise in November followed by a decline in December: Our data mapping suggests that the ABS retail trade measure will fall 0.1% m/m in December.

The controversies surrounding the Victorian Labor Government’s $6.7 billion West Gate Tunnel continue to pile up.

Former Liberal MP and Gosford Mayor, Malcolm Brooks, has attacked Australia’s policy makers for encouraging “unchecked” population growth, claiming that it is destroying our quality of life: “Unchecked population growth will have a dramatic impact on our quality of life and our politicians seem to be oblivious to this fact,” Brooks said.

Via Westpac: It is entirely reasonable to have expected that the Index would have fallen during this period of devastating bushfires.

Nick Klomp – vice-chancellor of CQUniversity – has attacked the wilful neglect of Australian regions, which are treated like ugly cousins of Australia’s cities: Like it or not, Australia’s rise or fall over coming years will be played out in the regions, by the regions.

After dropping a roofy in her drink, amateur Treasurer Josh Recessionberg has had his way with the confidence fairy, writing at The Australian: With that [trade] deal concluded and concerns about a “no-deal” Brexit having diminished, the IMF updated its global economic outlook yesterday and pointed to tentative signs of improved market sentiment.