Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic caused the Australian economy to shrink 1.9% in the third quarter. This decline contrasts with the steady recovery trend in other developed countries.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported its second quarterly decline on Wednesday (12/1/2021). It was one of the biggest contractions since the pandemic began, triggered by an extended lockdown in the densely populated state.

The cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra are closed to part of the neighborhood. As a result, households spend less on services.

Spending on hotels, cafes and restaurants decreased by 21% and transportation expenses by 40%.

The decline did not match the economies of countries like Canada, India, Japan, the United States (US), and the European Union, which saw growth during that time as they reopened to business.

Economists had expected a decline of 2.8%, but the increase in exports is seen as a salvation for the country, aided by high coal and gas prices. The economy is widely expected to recover in the final quarter of the year.

“These data show the significant disturbance caused by the lockdowns in the two largest states, they are now in the rearview mirror,” said NAB chief economist Alan Oster.

Oster added that recent activity indicators suggest that a “very solid recovery is already underway”.

The Reserve Bank of Australia previously estimated that while the economic recovery was uneven, economic confidence held up reasonably well.

“In our main scenario, the economy will grow again in the December quarter and is likely to return to its pre-delta course in the second half of next year,” he said.

The latest figures will continue to raise concerns about the potential impact of the Omicron variant. Moody’s Investor Service warned on Wednesday that the new strain “poses new risks to global economic growth and the inflation outlook.”

With 87% of children over the age of 16 fully vaccinated, there is hope that further bans can be avoided. But now Australia is one of the countries that are tightening travel restrictions after discovering a new variant.

The new variant of the Omicron coronavirus, first reported by a country in southern Africa, is now a new problem for the world with a surge in Covid-19 cases in several countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially included Omicron as a worrying variant or VOC (alarming variant). Omicron is said to have more strains or mutations than the alpha, beta and delta variants and is considered highly infectious.

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(tfa / tfa)