Australia's GDP Growth Remains Behind Expectations

Australia has recovered slightly from an economic downturn - but is expecting growth to weaken again because of the global impact of the coronavirus outbreak. On Wednesday, The Bureau of Statistics released figures showing the annualized GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2019 at 2.2 percent. In Q3, Australia's economy grew by 1.7 percent and in Q2 by 1.4 percent – the lowest it has been since the 2008/2009 economic crisis and 2011 Queensland flood. The Morrison government said a stimulus package was in the works to counter a repeated downturn.

Earlier quarter results had stoked fears of the country sliding into a recession. Prime minister Scott Morrison was quoted in September saying that he “can’t see” that happening. Australia has recently passed major tax cuts and modified central bank interest rates as a reaction to fears of a global recession, which might have resulted in the slight increase in the growth figure this quarter.

Both the IMF and the OECD have recently slashed their growth forecasts. While developing economies like India and China are expected to have to deal with substantial setbacks because of COVID-19, established economies were forecast to experience milder symptoms. Others, like Germany and Japan, were expected to post annualized growth rates of under 1 percent even before the virus hit.