Australian economy likely already slowing in Q2 before Delta downturn – Reuters poll

The Australian economy is likely to slow down its pace of expansion in the second quarter even before the Delta covid variant-led lockdowns hampered the countries business and jobs, the latest Reuters poll of economists showed Monday.

Key takeaways

“There is even a non-trivial chance the economy is already in a recession should Wednesday's data on the gross domestic product (GDP) match the weakest market forecast. “

“The median call is for growth of 0.5% in the June quarter, while forecasts ranging from a 0.1% fall to the growth of 1.2% underline the uncertainty of the age.”

“That would be a further step down from 1.8% in the March quarter and a heady 3.2% in the last quarter of 2020.”

“The central bank may decide not to trim its bond-buying as planned in September, but with interest rates already at all-time lows of 0.1% there is little more it can do.”