Australia today posted the strongest annual economic expansion in nearly two years last quarter and it extended a 27-year run of recession-free growth.
Australia's gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 1% in the first quarter, from an upwardly revised 0.5% in the December quarter.
Annual growth jumped to 3.1% from the December quarter's growth rate of 2.4%.
The last time the economy ran that fast was in the second quarter of 2016.
Today's figures just beat market forecasts for growth of 0.9% in the quarter and 2.8% on-year, pushing the Aussie dollar to near a six-week high.
Booming exports, business investment and government spending drove first quarter growth although the outlook was dimmed by cautious household spending.
Household consumption - which accounts for around 57% of GDP - contributed a meagre 0.2 percentage point to growth in the quarter.
Real net national disposable income grew 2.5% over the year, but the increase per person was under 1%.
Household spending on insurance, transport, health care and utilities grew the most while spending on alcoholic drinks, cigarettes and eating out dropped, the data showed.
The savings ratio declined to 2.1% from 2.3% in December.
Australian consumers are saddled with a mountain of debt at a time when wages are rising at the slowest pace on record and the unemployment rate is still high at around 5.5%, so economists see consumer spending as likely to remain tepid.
House prices, a major element of consumer confidence, have fallen for successive months since late last year as banks tightened their lending standards amid damaging revelations of some of their business practices.
