Australia’s economy has recovered fully from its Covid-19 recession, growing 1.8 per cent in the first three months of 2021 compared with the previous quarter thanks to a rebound in business investment and surging iron ore exports.
The better-than-expected growth means the economy is now 0.8 per cent larger than it was before coronavirus was first detected in China in December 2019, elevating Australia into a select group of nations that have grown over the past 15 months.
But economists warned the slow pace of the country’s vaccine rollout and an outbreak of Covid-19 in Melbourne, which has forced a lockdown in the state of Victoria, posed a risk to the recovery and would dampen growth.