Australia fell into its deepest economic slump on record last quarter as coronavirus curbs paralysed business activity, while fresh outbreaks threaten to upend any immediate recovery, piling pressure on the government to keep fiscal taps open.Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed the country’s A$2 trillion (US$1.47 trillion) economy shrank 7% in the three months to end-June from a 0.3% decline in the March quarter.
Australia sees lowest rise in coronavirus cases in over 3 weeks The country joins the United States, Japan, UK and Germany in technical recession, defined as two straight quarters of decline, in Australia’s first such downturn since 1991.“This crisis is like no other,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told.