Bushfires and the coronavirus will hit Australia's economy – but they won't knock it out

The impact of the coronavirus combined with the ongoing bushfire across the eastern and southern states has clearly thrown the start of the year into economic turmoil. But does it mean a recession is coming, and if it means no budget surplus, does that really matter?

One of the problems of being a relatively small economy compared with the US, China and the EU is that we are very much subject to the fortunes of economies abroad.

When asked about the prospects of a surplus, Josh Frydenberg explained to David Speers on ABC’s Insiders: “What we do know is that these events outside of our control are going to have a significant impact on the Australian economy.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2020/feb/04/bushfires-and-the-coronavirus-will-hit-australias-economy-but-they-wont-knock-it-out