The government dismissed "ridiculous" calls from Labor for a fiscal stimulus along the lines of a spending surge during the global financial crisis a decade ago, just as the Reserve Bank tips an economic recovery next year.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg countered talk of imminent tax changes to encourage business investment and argued instead for long-term structural reform to boost competition, cut red tape and reform workplace relations.

"It's not a time to panic," he told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age after attending meetings in Washington DC on the weekend on the outlook for the global economy.

"There is a synchronised slowdown taking place across the global economy and the main reason for that is the uncertainty that trade tensions have wrought, but also Brexit.

"That means it's really important to continue to pursue structural reform."

In a major statement of intent, Mr Frydenberg said the next wave of reform should include industrial relations, competition and deregulation and named work by Attorney-General Christian Porter and Assistant Minister Ben Morton.

Mr Frydenberg spoke at the Washington DC meetings of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and G20 finance ministers on the goal of increasing long-term productivity and national income.

"We're talking about competition, infrastructure, deregulation, industrial relations, tax," he said in an interview before returning to Australia for Parliament this week.

"We're having the debate. Christian Porter is working on the industrial relations side, Ben Morton's working on the deregulation side, and we've got our infrastructure plan."

On competition, he said, he was considering the findings from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on ways to shake up digital platforms such as Google and Facebook.

"Those are just some examples. There are a lot of pieces of work going on across the government," he said.

The comments follow a call last week from former treasurer Peter Costello for another round of structural reform, as well as years of calls from Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe and his predecessor Glenn Stevens for sweeping changes to make the economy more efficient.

Mr Stevens repeatedly cited a "to do list" of changes from the Productivity Commission that included cutting tariffs, reducing subsidies to inefficient industries and exposing more retail sectors (such as pharmacies) to greater competition.

While successive governments ignored those calls, Mr Frydenberg said it was "inaccurate" to suggest the Morrison government would not deliver on its reform ambition.

"My message at this meeting was that it was not a time to panic and we need to stay focused on what our structural reform priorities should be," he said.

"And we should also use our best offices to get a resolution of some of these trade tensions which are hurting not only the protagonists but the bystanders as well."

While Mr Porter has been considering options on workplace reform as Minister for Industrial Relations as well as Attorney-General, he has not put forward any proposals given the political sensitivity of the issue.

Beaten at the 2007 federal election after imposing the WorkChoices regime under John Howard, the Liberal Party has avoided significant workplace reform apart from the restoration of the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has ramped up his attacks on the government's economic record by citing the objective of the fiscal stimulus a decade ago to "go hard, go early and go households" to lift growth.

"This government is going slowly, going soft and going nowhere when it comes to an economic plan," Mr Albanese said last Wednesday.

"They need to develop an economic plan that grows the economy."

Dr Lowe, who also attended the US talks at the weekend, emphasised the positive outlook for the Australian economy by telling one of the meetings people should not "assume" another cut in official interest rates on Tuesday.

"I think it's quite probably that we'll see a return to trend growth over the next year, which will be good," Dr Lowe said.

Speaking in the wake of those remarks, Mr Frydenberg said the Australian economy was still seeing good jobs growth.

"So it's not a time to panic and calls from Labor for a GFC-type stimulus are just ridiculous," he said.

"There is a spending story that is underway across the economy but it's very targeted and it's in the areas that need it most.

"And it's not a scattergun approach where you write cheques willy-nilly to the last person who asked you."

Mr Frydenberg said the government was spending more money on mental health, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, defence and infrastructure, where outlays are rising to $10 billion a year.