Australia’s economic growth slows

Australia's economic growth slowed over the course of the last financial year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today. Photo / 123RF

Australia’s economy grew by just 0.2% in the three months to June, landing broadly in line with expectations and taking the annual rate to 1.5%.

Economic growth slowed over the course of the last financial year, Australian Bureau of Statistics head of national accounts Katherine Keenan said.

“Excluding the Covid-19 pandemic period, annual financial year economic growth was the lowest since 1991/92 - the year that included the gradual recovery from the 1991 recession,” Keenan said.

In the first three months of the year, the bureau recorded a 0.2% rise.

Battling inflation comes at the expense of a weaker economy, with higher interest rates designed to encourage more saving and less spending, lowering demand for goods and services and therefore prices.

The Reserve Bank of Australia was bracing for another weak set of national accounts data and economists believed a soft result was unlikely to sway the outlook on interest rates.

The central bank maintains underlying price pressures are still strong and interest rate cuts were looking unlikely until next year.

On a per person basis, growth was in decline for the sixth quarter in a row, falling 0.4%.

Household spending fell 0.2% detracting 0.1 percentage points from GDP growth, with less going towards discretionary items.

- AAP