SYDNEY, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Australia suffered its worst economic downturn on record last quarter as it battled the coronavirus crisis, while fresh outbreaks threaten to upend an already bumpy road to recovery and pile pressure on the government to keep fiscal taps open.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed the country's economy shrunk 7% in the three months to end-June from -0.3% in the March quarter. The median forecast from 20 economists had come in at -5.9%.
GDP declined by 6.3% year-on-year, a long way off from growth of 2.75% that policymakers had considered "trend".