Australia’s economy has slowed to a halt. It’s time for the Reserve Bank to take its foot off the brake

Australia’s GDP grew just 2.0% in 2023. ‘We should remember that the Reserve Bank decided in November to increase interest rates one more time, just when this economy was struggling.’ Photograph: Mark Baker/AP

The latest GDP figures show that the Reserve Bank has slowed things down so drastically that Australia’s economy, for the first time for 40 years, has gone an entire year where it grew only because of population increases.

There really is no good news to find in the December GDP figures. There’s a fair bit of “worst since” about the numbers.