The economy grew at a much slower pace in the first quarter than at the end of last year as the withdrawal of economic stimulus, surprise weakness in business investment and sluggish growth in export volumes took some of the steam out of activity. The average measure of GDP rose 0.5% in the first quarter of 2010 from the fourth quarter 2009 and rose 2.7% from the year-earlier period, the ABS said.
The ABS revised fourth quarter GDP growth to 1.1% from 0.9%, highlighting a stunning pace of growth through 2009 despite the bleak global backdrop. Gross national expenditure rose 0.8% in the first quarter from the fourth and rose 5.7% from a year before.