Rudd: Stimulus packages keeping Australia ahead

CANBERRA - The Federal Government's stimulus packages are supporting jobs in the retail industry and helping the economy to outperform other advanced economies, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.

New data released on Monday showed retail spending rose 0.3 per cent in April, on top of growth of 2.2 per cent in March.

"Since the Government introduced its stimulus packages ... Australian retail sales are running at 4.8 per cent above their levels for November last year," Rudd told Parliament.

"Contrast that with a 1.1 per cent fall among the major advanced economies over the same period."

Company profits for the March quarter were also released on Monday, showing a 7.2 per cent decline compared to the previous quarter, but they are still 6.8 per cent higher than a year earlier.

"While profits declined in most sectors of the Australian economy, the strongest growth in all industries was recorded in the retail trade group, which rose by 15.5 per cent," Rudd said.

"The measures the Government has adopted ... are helping this economy to recover given that we have enormous challenges."

He said financial markets were expecting today's national accounts to show another quarter of negative growth in the March quarter.

In the December quarter, GDP contracted by 0.5 per cent.

"This was substantially stronger than the OECD average of negative 2 per cent. Australia had higher growth than all the major advanced economies in the December quarter and was the sixth highest across the entire OECD."

- AAP