IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ausecr/v59y2026i1p5-15.html

The Australian Economy in 2025–26: Domestic Challenges in an Uncertain International Policy Environment

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew Greenwood‐Nimmo
  • Viet Hoang Nguyen
  • Tim Robinson
  • Sarantis Tsiaplias

Abstract

The Australian economy grew at a moderate pace in 2024–2025. Monetary policy gradually eased through 2025, with three rate cuts bringing the cash rate down to 3.6%. The labour market has softened further from its post‐pandemic state, but a resurgence of inflation in recent months places further monetary easing in doubt. Weak productivity growth remains a major domestic policy challenge. Geopolitical tensions, volatile tariff policies and the prospect of a stock market correction regarding the AI boom are downside risks heading into 2025/2026.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Greenwood‐Nimmo & Viet Hoang Nguyen & Tim Robinson & Sarantis Tsiaplias, 2026. "The Australian Economy in 2025–26: Domestic Challenges in an Uncertain International Policy Environment," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 59(1), pages 5-15, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausecr:v:59:y:2026:i:1:p:5-15
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-8462.70049
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8462.70049
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-8462.70049?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tomas Havranek & Marek Rusnak, 2013. "Transmission Lags of Monetary Policy: A Meta-Analysis," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 9(4), pages 39-76, December.
    2. Warwick J. McKibbin & Megan Hogan & Marcus Noland, 2024. "The international economic implications of a second Trump presidency," Working Paper Series WP24-20, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fidrmuc, Jarko & Lind, Ronja, 2020. "Macroeconomic impact of Basel III: Evidence from a meta-analysis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    2. Thomas M. FULLERTON & Miguel MARTINEZ & Wm. Doyle SMITH & Adam WALKE, 2015. "Inflationary Dynamics in Guatemala," Journal of Economics and Political Economy, EconSciences Journals, vol. 2(4), pages 436-444, December.
    3. Bobasu, Alina & Ciccarelli, Matteo & Notarpietro, Alessandro & Ambrocio, Gene & Auer, Simone & Bonfim, Diana & Bottero, Margherita & Brázdik, František & Buss, Ginters & Byrne, David & Casalis, André , 2025. "Monetary policy transmission: a reference guide through ESCB models and empirical benchmarks," Occasional Paper Series 377, European Central Bank.
    4. Bernardino Adão & Sandra Gomes & Laura Alpizar, 2025. "On how to assess the impact of monetary policy," Economic Bulletin and Financial Stability Report Articles and Banco de Portugal Economic Studies, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    5. Baranowski, Paweł & Doryń, Wirginia & Łyziak, Tomasz & Stanisławska, Ewa, 2021. "Words and deeds in managing expectations: Empirical evidence from an inflation targeting economy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 49-67.
    6. Pitkäranta, Juho & Raukola, Antti, 2025. "Impacts of the Trump 2.0 agenda on tariffs, fiscal policy, climate, deportation and financial regulation," BOFIT Policy Briefs 20/2025, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    7. John C. Williams, 2016. "Longview: The Economic Outlook," FRBSF Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    8. Bruno Coric & Lena Malesevic Perovic & Vladimir Simic, 2015. "A Cross-Country Analysis of Monetary Policy Effects on Prices," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 65(5), pages 377-390, October.
    9. David Staines, 2023. "Stochastic Equilibrium the Lucas Critique and Keynesian Economics," Papers 2312.16214, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2024.
    10. Anton Astakhov & Tomas Havranek & Jiri Novak, 2019. "Firm Size And Stock Returns: A Quantitative Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 1463-1492, December.
    11. Efstathios Polyzos & Costas Siriopoulos, 2024. "Autoregressive Random Forests: Machine Learning and Lag Selection for Financial Research," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 64(1), pages 225-262, July.
    12. István Ábel & Pierre Siklos, 2023. "Macroeconomic Risks and Monetary Policy in Central European Countries: Parallels in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland," Risks, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-26, November.
    13. Jakub Mateju, 2013. "Explaining the Strength and the Efficiency of Monetary Policy Transmission: A Panel of Impulse Responses from a Time-Varying Parameter Model," Working Papers IES 2013/18, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Nov 2013.
    14. Gan‐Ochir Doojav & Davaasukh Damdinjav, 2023. "The macroeconomic effects of unconventional monetary policies in a commodity‐exporting economy: Evidence from Mongolia," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 4627-4654, October.
    15. Michal Andrle & Oxana Babecka Kucharcukova & Jaromir Baxa & Jan Bruha & Peter Claeys & Jan Filacek & Jakub Mateju & Miroslav Plasil & Serhat Solmaz & Borek Vasicek, 2015. "Monetary Policy Challenges in a Low-Inflation Environment," Occasional Publications - Edited Volumes, Czech National Bank, Research and Statistics Department, edition 2, volume 13, number rb13/2 edited by Jan Babecky & Michal Franta.
    16. Zafar Hayat, 2017. "Pakistan’s Monetary Policy: Some Fundamental Issues," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 56(1), pages 31-58.
    17. Dominika Ehrenbergerova & Josef Bajzik, 2020. "The Effect of Monetary Policy on House Prices - How Strong is the Transmission?," Working Papers 2020/14, Czech National Bank, Research and Statistics Department.
    18. Michael T. Belongia & Peter N. Ireland, 2016. "Money and Output: Friedman and Schwartz Revisited," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(6), pages 1223-1266, September.
    19. Tomas Adam & Oxana Babecka Kucharcukova & Jan Babecky & Vojtech Belling & Sona Benecka & Jan Bruha & Kamil Galuscak & Tomas Holub & Eva Hromadkova & Lubos Komarek & Zlatuse Komarkova & Kamila Kulhava , 2015. "Analyses of the Czech Republic's Current Economic Alignment with the Euro Area 2015," Occasional Publications - Edited Volumes, Czech National Bank, Research and Statistics Department, number as15 edited by Kamila Kulhava & Lucie Matejkova.
    20. Cazachevici, Alina & Havranek, Tomas & Horvath, Roman, 2020. "Remittances and economic growth: A meta-analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ausecr:v:59:y:2026:i:1:p:5-15. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mimelau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.