CANBERRA, Oct 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australia’s central bank revealed, the country’s recession, amid the COVID-19 pandemic could be over.
Guy Debelle, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), told a Senate estimates hearing yesterday that, the bank believes the Australian economy returned to growth in the Sept quarter, ending the nation’s first technical recession since 1991.
He revealed that the economic impacts of strict 112-day lock-down in Melbourne, the capital city of the country’s hardest-hit state, Victoria, which ends today, were not as severe as previously thought.
“Our best guess is, it looks like the Sept quarter recorded positive growth, rather than slightly negative,” Debelle said, according to The Australian report today.
“As best as we can tell, the growth elsewhere in the country was more than the drag from Victoria, and possibly the drag from Victoria was a little less than what we guessed back in Aug.”
Australia’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2020, as a result of COVID-19 and bushfires that devastated much of the east coast, early in the year.
The country’s recession since 1991 was confirmed, when GDP fell by a further seven percent in the June quarter, reflecting nationwide COVID-19 restrictions.
Debelle backed the government’s plan, to continue to spend heavily, until the unemployment falls “comfortably” below six percent, noting that, tapering support prematurely would hurt Australia’s recovery from the crisis.
“The main objective is to get people back into employment,” he said.– NNN-AGENCIES
