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Australia’s economy has plunged into its first recession in nearly a decade, as it suffers from the coronavirus.
Gross domestic product (GDP) fell 7% in the April-June quarter compared to the previous three months.
This is the largest decline since records began in 1959 and a 0.3% decline in the following quarter.
An economy is considered to be in recession if two consecutive quarters of negative growth are observed.
Australia was the only major economy to survive the recession during the 2008 global financial crisis – mainly due to China’s demand for its natural resources.
Earlier this year, the economy suffered a slowdown in economic growth due to the extreme tree season and the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak.
Despite measures taken by the government and the central bank to support the economy, they have recently gained momentum following the closure of industries across the country.
This is the worst economic growth in 61 years due to a sharp contraction in household spending on goods and services.
Resilient economy
Australia Australia last fell into recession in the mid-1990s and lasted until the late 1991.
But the coronavirus epidemic has dealt a major blow to the Australian economy, although the figure is slightly better than the fall in the Australian Reserve Bank’s earlier forecast.
Despite a sharp drop in economic activity, Australia is performing better than other advanced economies that have experienced the most recessions.
The U.S. economy, the world’s largest, shrank by 1% between April and June, while the UK’s contraction pushed it into recession by 30.4%.
France’s economy is down 13.8% and Japan’s is down 7.6%.
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