Australia’s Economy Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels

Australia's economy did a good job last quarter as consumers and businesses lifted output back above where it was last year, when COVID-19 lockdowns threw the country into its first recession in thirty years.

The economy expanded by 1.8% in the three months to March, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed on Wednesday. Economists in a Reuters poll had forecast a 1.5% rise following an upwardly revised 3.2% gain in Q4.

Solid quarterly growth helped annual output climb 1.1% to A$525.7 billion ($408.05 billion) - a major change from last year's low of $468.3 billion.

"Today’s numbers show Australia’s recovery is becoming more broad-based. Families are spending locally, and businesses continue to invest, making the most of record low interest rates and tax offsets“, Deloitte's Kolding commented.

Wednesday's data showed Q1 expansion was driven by private investment, which contributed 0.9 percentage points to growth with machinery and equipment investment seeing its strongest quarterly increase since December 2009. A surge in dwelling activity also helped, while household spending added 0.7 percentage points to growth.

"Underpinning all of that is continued strength in jobs numbers”, Kolding added.

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