The downbeat report comes a day before recently appointed Treasurer Jim Chalmers updates the previous government's budget forecasts

The Reserve Bank of Australia lifted interest rates by a shock 50bps on Tuesday and warned that more rises are coming as it struggles to keep a lid on surging inflation.

Gross domestic product contracted by 4% in the first quarter. In its most recent forecast in February, the city’s government forecast growth for 2022 of 2%-3.5%

The central bank's drastic inflation revisions could foreshadow how far interest rates might have to rise to bring the country's cost of living crisis under control

RBA governor Philip Lowe said it was appropriate to start normalising monetary conditions as inflation was more than expected, but the economic outlook was still positive

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed employment jumped by 77,400 in February from a month earlier, double forecasts of a 37,000 gain