Treasurer Josh Frydenberg insists the Australian economy is sound despite the Reserve Bank downgrading economic forecasts and economists still expecting a rate cut this year.
The RBA this week kept the cash rate at its long-term record low of 1.5 per cent, and on Friday slashed the growth forecast for the 12 months to June and December
The Reserve Bank now expects annual GDP growth to June to be 1.75 per cent, compared to the 2.25 per cent it flagged six months ago.
Mr Frydenberg is focusing on the positives.
"The fundamentals of the Australian economy are very sound. And we have seen strong labour market growth," he told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.
"It's the RBA governor who says that wages are rising in every major sector in every state, faster than they were a year ago.
"Australia is growing, according to the last national accounts, at 2.3 per cent. That's faster than any nation in the G7 except the United States."
The RBA said its downgraded forecasts were based on the assumption that the cash rate will be cut twice to 1.0 per cent.
TD Securities strategists Annette Beacher and Prashant Newnaha said they expect the cuts to come in August and November, although the first could come as early as July if the labour market rapidly deteriorated.
The RBA noted there was some uncertainty about the labour market.
"The decline in job advertisements points to a much weaker outcome for employment in the near term than the leading indicators from business surveys," the RBA noted.
Mr Frydenberg said there were some "significant headwinds" on the horizon, with international trade tensions and the impacts of drought and floods.
"So, this is the worst possible time for the Labor Party (to win power), with their high-taxing, reckless-spending agenda," he said.
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen on Friday released Labor's election policy costings, and he promised to run bigger budget surpluses to provide a buffer against unforeseen circumstances.
"Australia's economy needs a fighting fund. It needs a buffer," Mr Bowen told reporters in Canberra.
"We need to replenish the buffers in case they are ever needed. We need bigger budget surpluses."
