There were early signs that the March GDP figures were not going to be good.

To start with, the Bureau of Statistics’ new measure of household spending that covers about two-thirds of all household spending had already revealed that spending for the quarter was flat compared with a 1.6% jump in December quarter last year. So household spending was worse.

Then last week the private capital expenditure figures revealed a 0.1% fall in investment in buildings and engineering, compared with a 0.2% rise in the December 2024 quarter. So private investment was worse.

On Tuesday, the balance of payments revealed that trade in the first three months of this year was expected to “detract 0.1%pts from the March quarter” compared with adding 0.2%pts in December. So trade was worse.

Just to top it off, on Tuesday the figures for government spending and investment showed that public demand fell in the March quarter and would also detract 0.1%pts from GDP growth compared with it adding 0.2%pts to GDP growth last December. So the impact of the public sector was worse.

To be honest, once you take away households, private investment, trade and government spending, you really are not left with much.

So it came to be.

In the

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