Stacy Summary: Luckily, for those who follow our site and are not wed to an ideology that forces them to see no floods, hear no hurricanes and speak no rising temperatures, they will have been hedged against this economic catastrophe. For those who are ideologically opposed to the environment having any possible impact on finance or economics . . . good luck with that, buddy.
Australia’s economy shrank in the first quarter by the most in 20 years as floods hurt exports, even as stronger business investment underscored the central bank’s forecast for a rebound in the second half of the year.
Gross domestic product fell 1.2 percent from the previous three months, when it rose a revised 0.8 percent, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney today. Exports slumped 8.7 percent, subtracting 2.1 percentage points from GDP growth, today’s report showed, while machinery and equipment spending jumped 6 percent, adding 0.4 point.
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