GDP: Economic growth beats forecasts, near average

Wednesday, 2 Mar 2016 08:33:56 | Michael Janda

Exports did not add as much to economic growth in the December quarter as most economists had expected. (ABC News: Rob Koenig-Luck)

Australia's economic growth was a higher-than-expected 0.6 per cent for the December quarter and 3 per cent for the year.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had typically expected economic growth to be 0.4 per cent for the December quarter and 2.5 per cent for year.

The lowest forecasts were for 0.2 per cent growth and the highest for 0.6 per cent for the quarter.

The Australian dollar shot up in response to the figures, from 71.6 to 72.1 US cents by 11:32am (AEDT).

More to come.

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