The Melbourne Newsroom

While the Australian economy recorded positive growth over the last economic quarter, Associate Professor Mark Crosby from the Melbourne Business School says Australia is still in recession.

"Most economists would not use the journalistic interpretation of recession i.e. two quarters of negative growth.  Most economists would have a pretty rubbery definition of it, but generally the settle on something 'significantly below trend'.  The Australian economy IS significantly below trend, with regards to GDP growth, so I would say we are in recession."

Dr Sam Wylie says that IMF predictions of a growth phase in the world economy in 2010 are off the mark, and says Australia should expect a long but shallow recession. 

"The financial crisis is going to take between $40-$60 billion out of Government revenues.  We should expect to see big defecits in Australia, with total government debt around $200 billion at the end of 2012, where at the moment its about $50 billion."