Lockdowns cause Australian economy to shrink

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Lockdowns and border controls shrank Australia’s economy by 1.9 percent in the third quarter, official statistics showed Wednesday, a decline more modest than expected but worse than in many other wealthy nations. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the quarterly downturn — the first since it contracted at the start of the pandemic in the first half of 2020 — was due to “extended lockdowns” in the country’s most populous states. […]