Australia is likely to suffer a jobless rate above 7 percent due to growing severity of the global economic recession, Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said on Friday.

"So what we are seeing is a sharper contraction in the global economy and the consequence of that for Australia is slower growth and higher unemployment," Swan said in the parliament.

Swan said the government had already put in place stimulus measures worth about 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), an amount that has recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"Most of that direct investment kicks in the second half of this year and through next year," Swan said.

According to opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull, the Australian economy has likely entered a recession in the first three months of this year, at least in the technical sense.

"Certainly, there aren't many people who believe that the March quarter will show positive growth," Turnbull said.

In the December quarter, the economy recorded its first negative quarter in eight years, contracting by 0.5 percent.

A technical recession is defined as two quarters of negative economic growth.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2009)