AUSTRALIA will extend record stimulus spending into next year, the government announced yesterday, outlining multi-billion-dollar measures to shield the labor market from the ravages of the rolling coronavirus crisis.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that supplements both to the unemployed and businesses struggling to retain staff would continue until at least the end of the year and likely beyond.

With Australia poised to enter its first recession in almost 30 years and struggling to tame double-digit unemployment, the government will increase stimulus spending on two income support programs to around 86 billion Australian dollars (US$60 billion).

The government has already doled out around US$30 billion to almost 1 million companies who have seen their turnover slashed.

The money has allowed around 3.5 million staff to be retained, according to government estimates.

Morrison, who dubbed it the “COVID-19 recession,” said the stimulus program “has saved businesses and it has saved livelihoods,” as he announced measures that will trash his much-vaunted election promise to deliver a budget surplus this year.(SD-Agencies)