Australia reports GDP growth of 0.6 pc in second quarter

Canberra, Sep 3 (IANS) Australia's rate of economic growth accelerated to 0.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2025, according to official figures released on Wednesday.

National accounts figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that Australia's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.6 per cent in the second quarter, spanning from the start of April through the end of June, up from 0.3 per cent in the first three months of 2025, Xinhua News Agency reported.

On an annual basis, it said, GDP rose by 1.8 per cent, up from 1.4 percent in the year to March. The ABS initially reported first quarter GDP growth of 0.2 per cent, but on Wednesday revised the figure to 0.3 per cent.

Meanwhile, Australia's annual rate of inflation hit a 12-month high of 2.8 per cent in July, according to official data published on August 27.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said that the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 2.8 per cent in the 12 months to the end of July 2025, up from 1.9 per cent in the year to June.

It marks Australia's highest rate of annual inflation since the 12-month period to July 2024, when the CPI rose by 3.5 per cent.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that economists had expected the CPI to rise by about 2.3 per cent in the year to July.

The annual trimmed mean, a measure of underlying inflation, also rose from 2.1 per cent in June to 2.7 per cent in July.

According to the ABS, the biggest drivers of CPI growth in the year to July were a 3.6 per cent rise in housing costs, a 3.0 per cent rise in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices, and alcohol and tobacco prices, which rose by 6.5 per cent.

Coffee, tea and cocoa prices were 14.4 per cent higher in July than 12 months earlier.

"This comes as supply has been affected by adverse weather conditions impacting major overseas coffee bean-growing areas," Michelle Marquardt, ABS head of prices statistics, said in a statement.

The Reserve Bank of Australia, the country's central bank, said in forecasts released earlier in August that it expected headline inflation to increase over the second half of 2025 before stabilizing at around 3 per cent through most of 2026.

--IANS

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