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Sydney - Australia's mining-powered economy showed signs of slowing Wednesday, recording lower-than-expected growth of 0.2% for the September quarter due to a sharp drop in exports.
The sluggish quarter-on-quarter figure, which followed revised growth of 1.1% the previous quarter, translated into an annual growth rate of 2.7%, down from last quarter's 3.3%, official statistics showed.
Household and capital expenditure was offset by a "strong fall in net exports", the Australian Bureau of Statistics said, with Australia's terms of trade rising 0.8% in the quarter compared with 11.9% in the three months to June.
It was the slowest quarter since December 2008 - the depths of the global financial crisis - when Australia slumped to negative growth of 1.0% before rebounding strongly, making it the only advanced nation to dodge recession.
Analysts had expected growth of 0.4% for the quarter and 3.4% for the 12 months to September.
Exports fell 2.4% in the quarter, with the key mining sector slipping 0.7% from June to subtract 0.1% points from growth. However, growth in the mining sector was up 4.9% from September 2009.
Treasurer Wayne Swan blamed the result on "one-off factors" including the surging Australian dollar and bad weather which forced three resources ports to close during the period, hitting coal and iron ore exports.
But he stressed that the more modest figures were just a "bump in the road" for Australia, which is in the grips of a once-in-a-century resources boom.
"Economies are judged by their performance over years, not quarters, and by any measure ours remains a stunning success," Swan told reporters, describing Australia as an "island of resilience in a sea of uncertainty".
"There is no doubt that there is a surge of investment still coming down that pipeline," he added.
The Treasurer last month said Australia was on track for 3.25% growth this year and 3.75% for 2011-12 in official mid-year budget forecasts which also confirmed a return to surplus in 2012-13.
Macquarie analyst Brian Redican said the result showed how a "bit of bad weather" in the mining sector could deeply impact Australia's prospects.
"If there's any slippage in mining investment or mining construction then you do get a very weak outcome," Redican said. "Suddenly, there's nothing else to support growth."
Most analysts saw the result as temporary dip for Australia, which emerged largely unscathed by the global slump due to resilient demand for its raw materials from fast-industrialising Asia.
"I think we need to see this as a bit of a pothole in what looks like a favourable outlook for the economy," Commonwealth Bank chief economist Michael Blythe told the AAP new swire. "The Australian economy is stronger than these numbers imply."
The Australian dollar slipped from 96.09 US cents to 95.64 US cents following the data, seven weeks after breaching parity with the greenback for the first time since being floated in 1983.
