Australia heads toward recession

Australia faces its first recession in almost two decades, analysts warn, as a worldwide slump takes a scythe to exports while hammering consumer and business confidence at home.

A Reuters poll found analysts expected gross domestic product (GDP) to be down by 0.6 percent in the three months to June compared to the same quarter a year ago. That would be the first annual contraction since 1991 and a long way from the 4 percent-plus growth enjoyed as recently as 2007.

Any recovery was also likely to be slow and modest, with growth of 1.3 percent seen in the year to June 2010.