Australia’s economy grew by a weaker-than-expected 0.2 per cent in the June quarter.
In the 12 months to June economic growth was 2.0 per cent, official figures show.
Economists had expected growth to have slowed to 0.5 per cent in the quarter, with an annual rate of 2.2 per cent, according to an AAP survey of 15 economists.
In the March quarter gross domestic product grew by 0.9 per cent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on Wednesday.
In response to the figures, the Australian dollar hit a new six year low below 70 US cents this morning.
The local currency dropped to 69.89 US cents at 1130 AEST after the release of official GDP datea.
The Australian dollar had earlier broken below 70 US cents for the first time since April 2009 because of disappointing Chinese manufacturing data.
Treasurer Joe Hockey said the growth figures were in line with his budget forecasts and came at a time when other commodity-based countries were in recession.
“The diversity and flexibility of the modern Australian economy is continuing to get us through the recent massive falls in commodity prices,” Hockey told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday.
– more to come
