A customer looks at products marked with discounted prices on display at a chemist in a shopping mall in central Sydney, Australia, July 25, 2018. "Inflation, while slowing, has hurt Australians more during the past 18 months than it has for three decades," National Australia Bank (NAB) CEO Ross McEwan said in a speech at the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce. "There is a lot of discussion as to whether Australia will head into a recession as we do have many headwinds. NAB and the three other large lenders which dominate Australia's A$2 trillion ($1.3 trillion) mortgage market have recorded only modest increases in late repayments as unemployment remains near record lows. Immigration to Australia has returned to levels similar to before COVID-19 prompted global border closures, leading to a shortage of housing and underpinning prices.

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Persons: David Gray, Ross McEwan, McEwan, Byron Kaye, Himani Sarkar Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, National Australia Bank, NAB, Israel Chamber of Commerce, Reserve Bank, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia, Israel, COVID, Lincoln