Soft retail economic tradings

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures show that the Australian economic growth has slowed down.

The GDP, in seasonally adjust terms, grew 0.2 per cent in the September quarter 2010, after growing 1.1 per cent in the June quarter.

According to the ABS, the growth was driven by household expenditure, increasing 0.6 per cent and gross fixed capital expenditure that grew 0.9 per cent. This growth was partially offset by a strong fall in net exports with the fall in net exports was due to a 2.4 per cent fall in exports and a 0.5 per cent fall in imports.

Unlike the agricultural sector, which was the biggest contributor to the growth in the period, the retail industry depreciated 0.1 per cent in seasonally adjusted volume terms. But year-on-year, the results improved by 1.8 per cent.