SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s economy was already slowing in the June quarter before wide-spread coronavirus lockdowns slammed everything into reverse, leaving the country in a desperate race to vaccinate in the hope of opening up to recovery by Christmas.
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics out on Wednesday showed gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.7% in the June quarter. That was a step down from 1.9% in the March quarter, but did at least top forecasts of 0.5% and avoided analysts’ worst fears of a negative outcome.
Annual growth was the fastest in modern history at 9.6%, but only because the pandemic caused a severe contraction in the June quarter last year, which was dropping from the calculation.
(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Sam Holmes)
