NAB Estimate Minimum Economic Cost Of Melbourne Lockdown As A$5.2bn

NAB note that "another 3.5 weeks of lockdown in Melbourne will see at least an additional A$1.9bn hit to GDP. At the time of the July budget update, Treasury had estimated a 6-week Melbourne lockdown would subtract A$3.3bn from economic activity. The extension of lockdown by an additional 3.5 weeks suggests a hit to GDP of at least A$5.2bn, or 0.3%. While we note there is a lot of uncertainty around these estimates, the actual impact is likely to be much larger given: (1) the restrictions in Melbourne and regional Victoria have been tightened, and; (2) there are indirect impacts from the extended lockdown."