Australia GDP 2026: Economic growth slows to 2.1pc following three rate hikes

Australia’s economic growth pace has slowed in the face of three interest rate rises and could be squeezed further with another possible Reserve Bank hike to tackle persistent inflation.

Gross domestic product in the year to June 30 eased to 2.1 per cent, down from March’s annual pace of 2.5 per cent.

The latest news from the Australian Bureau of Statistics comes as three of the big four banks - Commonwealth, NAB and ANZ - forecast another hike this year that would take the cash rate to a 15-year high of 4.6 per cent, with inflation in July remaining above the RBA’s 2-3 per cent target for the 12th straight month.

Australia’s productivity crisis shows no sign of recovering with output for every Australian shrinking by 0.2 per cent during the last financial year.