Fed: Recession concession means govt should release data: Coonan

AAP General News (Australia)
04-21-2009
Fed: Recession concession means govt should release data: Coonan

CANBERRA, April 21 AAP - The federal government should release data that has forced
it to concede the country will slide into a recession, the opposition says.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Monday conceded Australia will head into a recession for
the first time since the early 1990s.

The severity of the global recession made it impossible for the nation to avoid a further
period of negative economic growth, he said.

The economy recorded its first quarter of negative growth in eight years during the
final three months of 2008.

A recession is conventionally defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Mr Rudd, Treasurer Wayne Swan and other ministers had dodged the issue for weeks, opposition
finance spokeswoman Helen Coonan says.

"It is incumbent upon them to tell us what revised forecasts or what data they're relying
on in order to reach the conclusion that Australia inevitably will slide into a recession,"

she told ABC television on Tuesday.

These figures are updated "pretty much" all the time and Mr Rudd obviously wouldn't
be relying merely on the GDP figures, she said.

"He's relying on some kind of forecasts. He might even be relying on projections, but
we simply don't know."

Senator Coonan said the government used the same tactic with the budget deficit.

"There was first of all denial, then there was `oh well possibly we will go into deficit
and then finally dragged kicking and screaming to making an admission," she said.

AAP srj/maur/

KEYWORD: ECONOMY COONAN

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