Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott said there was no need to panic about Australia’s economic outlook, and leading economists labelled Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ downbeat assessment of the economy and inflation a political play, to buy the new government flexibility, that could backfire.

Mr Scott on Thursday was upbeat about the outlook, and said while there was a need to be mindful of inflation “getting too far ahead of us”, there was also reason to be confident the economy could withstand a few bumps.