The unprecedented nature of the pandemic continue to shape international fiscal policy

As reserve banks and federal reserves continue to battle the impacts of Covid-19, inflation has become a dominate issue.

In some parts of the world, rising household costs have slowed consumer spending by more than expected.

It means the end of aggressive rate hikes could come to an end in a matter of months.

In Australia, recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirmed inflation has passed its peak and is beginning to moderate.

The numbers show annual inflation peaked in December 2022 but will still remain higher for longer than anticipated.

Matt Grudnoff is a Senior Economist at The Australia Institute, who said these are uncharted waters.

“I don’t think they should be fully blamed.

“The pandemic was an entirely different kind of recession, one that we have never seen before.

“The world went into recession because the world shut down for very good health reasons.

“But the economy rebounded extremely quickly, simply because there was no underlying problem with the economy,” he said.