Australia’s CEFC invests $75m in homegrown critical minerals
The CEFC was established in 2012 by the Australian government to help achieve its national goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
Australia’s economy is facing headwinds from weaker growth, a decline in the value of key mining exports and the need for additional spending in some areas, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said ahead of a budget update.
Chalmers will on Wednesday set out the country’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, aiming to persuade voters that the center-left Labor government can spur expansion ahead of a national election that must be held by May 17.
“There will be substantial pressures on the budget,” Chalmers said Sunday in an interview with Sky News. “Some of those pressures are slowing growth, a write down in mining exports and company taxes.”
Gross domestic product rose 0.8% last quarter from a year earlier, the weakest reading — excluding the pandemic — since December 1991, when Australia’s economy was in recession, according to official data released earlier this month.
Earnings from iron ore, Australia’s major export, are forecast to decline on waning prices that have dropped about a quarter this year amid higher production and weaker demand in China. The value of shipments of coal and liquefied natural gas are also expected to fall, according to government projections.
Australia’s government is handling the impact of higher spending on payments to military veterans and in areas including natural disasters, early childhood education and health, Chalmers said in the interview. The mid-year update will include details of an additional A$1.8 billion ($1.15 billion) in entitlements to veterans, he said.
(By David Stringer)
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