Economic data due out tomorrow is expected to show Australia's robust economy has slowed dramatically because of drought, rising imports and falling exports, analysts said yesterday.
GDP is tipped to rise between 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent in fourth quarter of last year, which may mean the annual growth rate for this year falling under 3 percent for the first time since the September quarter of 2001.
But even if it does, Australia, which has been at or near the top of the league of western industrialised economies for more than a year, is still likely to have one of the strongest economies in the western world. The latest predictions for 2002 GDP growth as low as 3 percent, from 3.7 percent in the September quarter, follow the release of current account and business inventory figures.
Bureau of Statistics data showed the current account deficit had surged 40 percent to a record A$11.58 billion (US$7 billion) in the December quarter amid a weakening global economy and the worst drought on record.
The December current account, which was also affected by aircraft imports, represented a huge blowout from the revised deficit for the three months to September of A$8.27 billion.
Bureau figures also showed an unexpected fall in fourth quarter inventories by a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent from the previous three months, after the market had anticipated a 0.5 percent rise.
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