Chalmers heads to Washington as the world suffers a bad case of deja vu

April 15, 2026 — 5:35pm

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

Save this article for later

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.

The world’s treasurers and central bankers are about to endure a bad case of deja vu.

The annual spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington attracts financial leaders from around the world, including Jim Chalmers and Reserve Bank deputy governor Andrew Hauser, to take the pulse of the global economy.

The US-Israel war against Iran, and the turmoil it has sent through the economy from oil prices to helium used in semiconductor production, will be the discussion point of this week’s meetings.

It is eerily similar to what transpired in Washington in April 2008 when treasurers and central bankers gathered, just a few weeks after the collapse of American investment bank Bear Stearns. Its collapse was the harbinger of the global financial crisis, the impact of which reverberated through the world until the pandemic.

Then-treasurer Wayne Swan was preparing his first budget when he made the trip to the US in 2008. The budget was set to contain deep cuts and a winding back of John Howard’s middle-class welfare........

© WA Today