Chalmers Cites IMF Alarm He Could Have Set Himself Three Years Ago

Guardian Australia · Nick Visser · Tuesday 14 April 2026

Chalmers Cites IMF Alarm He Could Have Set Himself Three Years Ago

Treasurer warns of global recession risk and prolonged high fuel prices through 2027, citing IMF forecasts while framing the economic pain as an unavoidable consequence of the Middle East conflict.

'Australians didn't choose the circumstances of that war' — no, but they did elect three consecutive parliaments that chose not to build a refinery. Chalmers reads the IMF report like a weather forecast, as though recession blows in from the sea and nobody left the windows open.

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