Australia just one quarter shy of recession-free record

sydney — Australia’s economy rebounded sharply last quarter as commodity exports boomed while consumers and the government lifted spending, extending the resource rich nation’s 25-year streak of uninterrupted expansion.

The recovery saved the political blushes of the conservative government of Malcolm Turnbull, which is riding low in the polls and might have come unglued at news of an actual recession.

“No recession, all the doomsters can go back to their caves,” said Shane Oliver, head of economics at AMP Capital.

The local dollar rose a fifth of a US cent after the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported gross domestic product climbed 1.1 per cent in the fourth quarter.

That handily topped forecasts of a 0.7 per cent gain and came as a huge relief after the third quarter’s shock 0.5 per cent decline. It also marked 102 quarters without recession, just one quarter short of the all-time record held by the Netherlands. “We have ended up with quite strong consumer spending, a rebound in housing, stronger business investment, stronger public demand and stronger net exports,” Oliver said.

Growth for the year also surprised at 2.4 per cent, up from 1.9 per cent and ahead of most of Australia’s rich world peers — an outcome that virtually shuts the door to any further rate cuts this year. —