
Markets turmoil and interest rate rises: the economic challenges facing Australia after the election
Soaring energy costs, stagflation fears and calls for higher wages are just some of the bumps in the road awaiting a new or returned government Economists predict the Reserve Bank of Australia will raise the cash rate at least four more times in 2022 alone. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP At the end of last year, many signs pointed to Australia’s economy reaching a post-Covid sweet spot right about now, in the middle of the election campaign. Even Reserve Bank governor Philip


Australia’s wholesale power prices double in a year as coal-fired power plants falter
The jolt in costs is being blamed mostly on more expensive fossil fuels and falling reliability of coal-fired power plants Wholesale power prices in Australia’s main electricity market continued to rise in the first three months of 2022, more than doubling the cost a year earlier, with the increase blamed mostly on more costly fossil fuels and the falling reliability of coal-fired power plants. Renewable energy, meanwhile, grew its share of the market to more than one-third,