Australia's economy expands 0.4% in the fourth-quarter

Australia's economy has expanded by less than expected in the fourth quarter of 2011, as business spending dropped, sending the dollar to a six-week low.

Gross domestic product rose by 0.4% in the three months to the end of December compared with the previous three months, said theBureau of Statistics.

Analysts were expecting growth of 0.8%.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17270827

Australia's economy

Australia’s economy had already stood out from other rich countries’ by surviving the global downturn without recession. As Wayne Swan, the treasurer, presented the budget for 2010-11 on May 11th, it seemed even more robust. A deficit of almost A$41 billion ($37 billion) is projected to become a surplus in 2012-13, three years earlier than first forecast. And the debt the government piled up to keep Australia afloat through the slump is also due to be paid off three years ahead of schedule, after peaking at 6.1% of GDP, a fraction of the percentage in the big rich countries in the G7.

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=16112050&source=hptextfeature