By Nick Mann | 7 June 2012
Australia’s gross domestic product grew by 1.3% in the first three of months of 2012, reaffirming its position as ‘one of the strongest economies in the world’, according to the country’s deputy prime minister and treasurer, Wayne Swan.
The figures, published yesterday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, compare with 0.6% GDP growth the previous quarter. On an annual basis, the economy grew by 4.3% – the best year-on-year quarterly growth figure in four years.
With public spending largely flat, Swan attributed the ‘exceptional growth’ to a ‘broad-based surge’ in business investment and strong growth in household consumption. Household consumption grew by 1.6% in the quarter while new private business investment grew by 5.5%.
‘This is a remarkable outcome and reaffirms Australia's position as one of the strongest economies in the world… growing faster than every other single major advanced economy in the March quarter,’ he said.
‘These figures come at time when many advanced economies are struggling to grow at all, with a number already in recession and suffering crippling levels of unemployment.’
However, problems in Europe continued to cast a shadow over the global outlook, and were clearly weighing on economic confidence, trade and financial markets.
Exports fell by 1.3% in the quarter and the terms of trade – the value of exports relative to imports – fell by 4.3% due to a drop in commodity prices.
‘Despite clear signs of economic strength, there continues to be an uneven pattern of growth across our economy,’ Swan added. ‘Headwinds from a weak and volatile global economy, the high dollar, and structural changes under way in our economy continue to weigh on some sectors.’
Australia’s unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage points last month to 5.1%, figures published by the ASB today revealed.
But the number of people employed also increased, up by 38,900 to 11,537,900, which amounted to a 0.3 percentage point increase in the country’s labour participation rate, up to 65.5%.
