Jim Chalmers faces a world of hard choices where the solution to one problem makes the other worse

Key points

• Treasurer Jim Chalmers has signalled that officials are downgrading economic forecasts ahead of the December mid-year budget update, pointing to slower growth and higher unemployment. Oil prices have climbed to US$113 a barrel after a broadening Middle East conflict, and petrol has risen by 60 cents a litre since the US and Israel attacked Iran.
• Westpac analysts have outlined a scenario in which oil could reach US$150.
• Chalmers has said the government has limited control over these pressures, and that any response to one problem could make another worse.