Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said the government is confident the economy is strengthening after last year’s global recession.
Swan, commenting in a statement before the release of fourth-quarter economic-growth figures on March 3, said “whatever the numbers are on Wednesday, we’re confident we can recover strongly, but we’re far from complacent given some sectors of our economy are still vulnerable.”
Australia’s gross domestic product probably rose the most in 1 1/2 years last quarter, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts, boosted by A$22 billion ($19.7 billion) in spending by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on roads and schools.
Signs of a rebound will prompt central bank Governor Glenn Stevens to boost the benchmark lending rate to 4 percent from 3.75 percent on March 2, according to 14 of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
“Any interest-rate rise is of course very tough on family budgets,” Swan said in the statement placed on a government Web site. “But it’s also worth remembering that official interest rates are currently 350 basis points below their peak a year and a half ago.” A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
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