If GDP per person falls again in the June quarter, Australia would enter a ‘per capita’ recession – signalling the average Australian is going backwards.

The country's GDP expanded 2.5% in the first three months this year, compared to a year earlier, missing economists' expectations for a 2.6% growth.

Australia's economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 per cent in the March quarter, the same as in the previous quarter.

New data released by the ABS showed Australia’s economy was already slowing before being hit by the fallout from the Middle East war and interest rate increases.

If GDP per person falls again in the June quarter, Australia would enter a ‘per capita’ recession – signalling the average Australian is going backwards.

The economy grew just 0.3 per cent in the first quarter, gross domestic product per capita went backwards, and interest rate rises and cost-of-living pressures are weighing on…