IMF endorses another Australian stimulus package

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has endorsed another Australian stimulus package as a means of keeping the Australian economy afloat, reports ABC News.

According to a report from the IMF, the Australian economy will contract by 0.2 per cent if the Government does not actively restore growth using its own funds.

Pay Brooks, division chief of the IMF's Asia Pacific Department, said although the pre-Christmas injection into the economy anecdotally gave residents greater spending power, the Government needs to release another stimulus package to avoid further retraction.

"It would be unwise to stop going. The budget has to go into deficit in these circumstances," he said.

Brooks also feels that another interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia would further help stimulate the economy to avoid recession.

After months of debate about the effects of Australian immigration on the economy, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Senator Chris Evans has yet to confirm his department's plan of action for this year's Budget release. As it stands, Senator Evans will let the same amount of people move to Australia under the General Skilled Migration programme, which is sitting at a record 133,500 skilled visas. The total immigration quota is 190,300 places for Australian migration visas, which is an increase of 37,500 places during the 2007-08 financial year.

The Australian Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in helping people with emigrating to Australia.