Australian home and business owners are now paying back more than two more percentage points in interest than they were just four months ago.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is deliberately trying to slow the economy to bring inflation under control. But this means that there will be some pain.
Whether the central bank can bring Australia in for a "soft landing" or drive it into recession for a "hard landing" remains to be seen. But everyone will feel some sort of landing on their bottom.
So in times like these, it might be prudent to think about which ASX shares may not be as affected by economic downturns.
Some experts have suggested healthcare might be one of those sectors.
After all, regardless of how much money is available in the wallet, you have to heal from an injury or illness. It is the opposite of a discretionary spend.
If you think this strategy makes sense, there are two ASX shares that experts are recommending as buys right now:
International business attracting takeover interest
Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC) shares have lost about 16% since April, and only gained 8.5% over the past five years.
But that's not the whole story.
That whole time, the company has been locked in tense negotiations with a private consortium led by KKR & Co, which wants to buy out the health facilities operator.
After months of to-ing and fro-ing, the situation came to a head last month.
"A consortium of investors led by KKR has withdrawn its non-binding indicative proposal to acquire Ramsay Health Care, a private hospital operator in Australia, Asia, the United Kingdom and France," Shaw and Partners senior investment advisor Jed Richards told The Bull.
It seems KKR's team became frustrated with being unable to perform due diligence on Ramsay's European arm. That division is a separately listed company, which competes with a business that KKR already partly owns.
Putting aside the takeover saga, Richards reckons Ramsay has a bright outlook anyway.
"Regardless, RHC is well positioned post-COVID-19 to expand its Australian capacity."
If it didn't, private equity would not be so interested in acquiring the business.
Cancer treatments going to market
Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: TLX) is very much a different investment to Ramsay. As a pharmaceutical business only just starting to get products out into the market, it's very much a growth stock.
This year has seen huge progress towards sustainable revenues, which has prompted BW Equities equities salesperson Tom Bleakley to declare the stock as a buy.
"This bio-pharmaceutical company has launched its prostate cancer imaging product," he said.
"The drug Illuccix has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to detect early stage 4 prostate cancer. Initial sales of Illuccix have been strong since the first commercial dose was administered on April 14, 2022."
Indeed, since that time the share price has risen 22.5%.
But it has cooled off more than 29% since 11 August, which may have opened up a buying opportunity.
Bleakley points out Illuccix is not the only egg in Telix's basket.
"Telix is progressing nuclear medicine trials for therapy of late stage prostate cancers."
