Australia teetering on edge of recession for first time in 30 years

Australia will fall into a recession for the first time in 30 years, Westpac Bank has predicted. 

“On a quarterly basis, we expect the economy will contract in both the first and second quarters by 0.3 percent and 0.3 percent respectively, to be followed by a rebound of 1.4 percent and 0.8 percent respectively in the third and fourth quarters,” Westpac chief economist Bill Evans wrote, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

“That growth profile constitutes a technical recession but given the expected recovery in the second half of the year it is much more realistic to characterise the situation as a ‘major disruption’ to growth rather than the style of recession that Australia has experienced in the past.”