Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner has described as "very premature'' claims the global financial crisis is over.
Sydney's The Daily Telegraph plastered its front page this morning with the headline ''It's Over'' proclaiming the crisis had been "killed by unbridled optimism''.
"I think that's a very premature assessment,'' Mr Tanner told Sky News today.
Mr Tanner queried the newspaper's description of comments made by US President Barack Obama as a "pronouncement'' the world was seeing the "beginning of the end of the recession''. "I'm not sure whether it's a correct interpretation of those statements.''
Treasurer Wayne Swan echoed Mr Tanner's comments, also saying the tough times caused by the global economic downturn are not over.
Mr Swan said it was clear the "tough times aren't yet over''. While he was heartened by the impact of the federal government's stimulus measures, the treasurer said unemployment was expected to continue to rise and business investment would decrease.
The nation would also have to live with the higher cost of money after the global recession, he said. "I think it is still pretty fair to say that it is still a very rocky road ahead,'' he told reporters as he entered the ALP national conference in Sydney on Friday.
"What we have to understand is we still have a very big jobs challenge on our hands in this country and globally, I think President Obama acknowledged that.''
Speaking ahead of the release of the latest US economic growth figures, Mr Obama said that the "huge volatility or panic'' in the banking system and financial markets had "generally settled down''.
However, the US president said the gross domestic product figures were still expected to show the nation's economy contracted and that job losses remained a huge problem.
Australia was still facing significant challenges including an expected rise in unemployment, Mr Tanner said. At the same time enormous budget deficits were appearing in the United Kingdom and the US.
"The American situation does suggest that it's probably true that things have bottomed out,'' Mr Tanner said. "But of course that doesn't mean that the recovery has even occurred or necessarily started.''
Australia may not know for another 18 months whether the downturn had ended, he said.
Mr Obama made the statements on Wednesday after economic indicators and comments from the US Federal Reserve suggested stabilisation after a brutal slump.
"We have stopped the freefall. The market is up and the financial system is no longer on the verge of collapse,'' Mr Obama said. ''... So there's no doubt that things have gotten better. We may be seeing the beginning of the end of the recession.''