Global Trade and Investment and COVID-19 - ONLINE ONLY

What are the consequences and outlook for global trade and investment and for Australia in the context COVID-19?

Join us for a discussion between Jenny Gordon (@DFAT Chief Economists), Heather Cotching (Acting Chief Economist, Austrade) and Kim Mundy (Director, International Economics and Currency Strategy, CBA), hosted by Lisa Elliston (Australian Treasury).

COVID-19 resulted in a worldwide halt on people flows and a sudden slowing in economic activity, which has had major consequences for trade. The international economic recovery is expected to be more gradual than was originally forecast. At the country level recovery will be uneven and largely dependent on the COVID-19 situation. The role of trade and investment in driving a recovery may be tempered by consumer and investor confidence and a rise in protectionism. The panel will discuss the current outlook for global trade and investment and the potential consequences for Australia in the context of COVID-19.

This event has been brought to you by the Women in Economics Network, ACT branch.

About our Speakers

Jenny Gordon joined DFAT in November 2019 as the Chief Economist in the new Office of the Chief Economist. This Office is providing economic analysis support for DFAT policy and program development across trade, investment, foreign policy and development assistance. Jenny joined DFAT from Nous Group, a management consultancy firm, where she was the chief economist. Jenny spent 10 years with the Australian Productivity Commission, where she was the Principal Adviser, Research, providing oversight of the research program and quality assurance across the Commission’s inquiries. Prior to joining the Commission Jenny was a partner in the Centre for International Economics, an economic consultancy. She has a PhD in Economics from Harvard University, and started her professional career at the Reserve Bank of Australia in the exciting time of floating the Australian dollar and major financial liberalisation.

Heather Cotching is the Acting Chief Economist at Austrade. She has worked across five different government agencies in economics roles including Prime Minister and Cabinet, Treasury, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. At Austrade Heather is responsible for providing economic analysis to Austrade clients and senior executives, with a focus on trade and investment. She is also responsible for the management of Tourism Research Australia, which produce Australia’s national tourism statistics and key publications.  

Kim Mundy is a senior currency strategist and international economist in the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s international economics team. In this role she is involved in monitoring and forecasting trends in Australian and foreign economies and drawing implications for central bank’s policy interest rates and currencies.  Kim joined the Commonwealth Bank in February 2019 after a 4 year stint working as an economist at ASB in New Zealand. Prior to this, Kim worked as an economic consultant at Insight Economics and at the New Zealand Treasury. She holds a Bachelor of Economics (Hons), Statistics and Politics degree from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Kim works in the Institutional Banking & Markets division of the Commonwealth Bank. This division is responsible for managing the Group’s relationships with major corporate, institutional and government clients and providing a full range of capital raising, transactional and risk management products and services.

Lisa Elliston is the Division Head of the International Economics and Security Division at the Australian Treasury. Ms Elliston is responsible for Treasury’s engagement with international financial institutions, multilateral forums including G20 and APEC, and key bilateral partners. She is also responsible for policy development in Treasury related to global financial safety and stability, the governance of international financial institutions, trade policy, macroeconomic capacity building within the region and the intersection of economic and national security issues. 

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Timing of this event is AEDT.