Australian Treasurer Frydenberg: Lockdowns cost economy around USD220 million a day

The latest coronavirus-led lockdowns are costing the economy around AUD300 million (USD220.4 million) per day, Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said in an interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television on Thursday.

Key quotes

“Expect Australia's GDP to be affected in the current quarter as a result of ongoing lockdowns.”

"Right now with more than 13 million of fellow Australians in lockdown, these are very trying times.”

"Businesses are closed, kids are being home-schooled, and, of course, families are apart. And it's gonna have a hit on the economy. We'll see that in the future jobs data as well as in the GDP growth numbers.”

"But our expectation is that these lockdowns are costing around 300 million AUD a day, which is a very high price. And, of course, we're not out of it just yet."

Market reaction

AUD/USD is unperturbed by the above comments, now advancing towards 0.7400 amid risk-on market mood. At the time of writing, the aussie is adding 0.17% to trade at 0.7370.