Australia’s economy has slowed to 1990s levels, with just one per cent annual growth—the slowest rate the country has seen in years, excluding the COVID-19 pandemic period.
According to newly published reports by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the weak growth was attributed to subdued household demand, which detracted 0.1 percentage points from GDP growth.
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The figures also revealed that GDP per capita fell by 0.4 per cent for the sixth consecutive quarter.
ABS head of national accounts, Katherine Keenan, said: “The Australian economy grew for the eleventh consecutive quarter, although growth slowed over the 2023-24 financial year.”
However, government consumption provided some support, contributing 0.3 percentage points to growth.
The market’s decline is also influenced by overnight losses on Wall Street, where weaker-than-expected manufacturing data sparked concerns about the direction of the U.S. economy.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers noted earlier this week that the Reserve Bank’s 13 interest rate hikes were “smashing the economy.”
“Today’s national accounts for the June quarter show that our economy is barely growing,” Mr Chalmers said.
“The main story in these figures is consumption. Consumption went backwards, and discretionary spending fell substantially,” he added.
“Without government spending growth, there would be no growth in the economy at all, and the main contributors to that are our health spending.”
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