CANBERRA, ACT, Feb. 3 -- The Treasurer of Australia issued the following transcript:
Note
Subjects: inflation, interest rates
Matt Shirvington:
Great to have you with us. Look, almost every economist is saying the same thing - government spending is to blame here. Do you disagree with all of them?
Jim Chalmers:
Well, there's not a unanimous view amongst the economists about what's driving the most recent tick up in inflation, but if you look at the facts, that tick up in the most recent data was largely about holiday spending, the withdrawal of the energy rebates and some more persistent issues in housing.
And so there are some temporary issues, some permanent or persistent issues when it comes to our inflation challenge, but we ackn...