Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock expects national accounts figures to show growth will be “quite low” for the first part of the year.
Australia’s March quarter national accounts figures will be released at 11.30am on Wednesday and are expected to confirm a further decline in GDP per capita.
Economists expect the figures will show Australia’s economy expanded by an anaemic 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, a result that would bring annual growth to just 1.2 per cent – it’s weakest result outside the coronavirus pandemic since the 2000 dot.com bust.
Asked by Liberal senator Jane Hume if the economy was experiencing a per capita recession – that is population growth outstripping economy growth – Ms Bullock said the concept was not useful as recessions referred to “losses of jobs and human difficulties”.
“I just think that the word per capita recession just gets bandied around in a way that isn’t very helpful,” she said.
“Our sense at the moment is that the economy is weak, and it’s certainly showing up in consumption.”
More to come