Australia's living standards are unlikely to fall because of the global financial crisis, opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey says.

Economists predict the living standards of Britain and the United States will fall by as much as 20 per cent, because of the economic downturn, according to a report in Saturday's Australian Financial Review.

Mr Hockey said Australia was not in the same boat.

"Australia is more closely linked with the Asian economies than it is with Europe and the United States," he told the Nine Network.

"(And) we are blessed... with very sound financial institutions."

But Mr Hockey was critical of the amount of debt the Labor government had racked up in its response to the economic downturn.

The opposition would not have borrowed as much money, he said.

"We would not have spent... anywhere near the same amount of money."

Meanwhile, Treasurer Wayne Swan says the federal budget's economic forecasts are still relevant in the wake of last week's unexpectedly positive national accounts figures.

It was revealed on Wednesday that gross domestic product (GDP) for the first three months of the year had grown by 0.4 per cent, meaning Australia's economy had avoided a recession.

You need two consecutive quarters of negative growth to define a so-called "technical" recession.

Despite the good news, Mr Swan said there were "huge challenges ahead".

"Whilst we had a positive figure - and that's welcome, and that is due to the economic stimulus we put in place - the period ahead is going to be a rocky road," he told Network Ten on Sunday.

"We will not have the business investment we need, and we are certainly having a dramatic drop in the terms of trade."

Last month's gloomy treasury forecasts anticipated these factors and were still relevant, he said.

"The forecasts that we put forward in the budget are just as relevant now as they were then," Mr Swan said.

AAP