GDP rose 0.6% in the March quarter AUSTRALIA'S economy grew by 0.6 per cent in the first three months of 2013, which was below expectations, official figures show. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the 12 months to March was 2.5 per cent, in seasonally adjusted terms, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on Wednesday. GDP was expected to rise by 0.8 per cent in the March quarter for an annual rate of 2.7 per cent, according to an AAP survey of 14 economists conducted on Friday. The March quarter growth follows a 0.6 per cent rise in GDP for the December quarter. Household final consumption expenditure rose 0.6 per cent in the March quarter and was up 2.0 per cent over the year to March, seasonally adjusted. Total investment in dwellings was unchanged in the quarter to be up 2.7 per cent in the year to March. Total gross fixed capital formation fell 2.3 per cent in the quarter and was down 0.2 per cent over the year. Domestic final demand fell 0.3 per cent in the quarter and was up 1.1 per cent over the year. The seasonally adjusted GDP implicit price deflator, the broadest measure of price changes in the economy, was up 0.8 per cent in the March quarter, unchanged from the December quarter, to be up 0.6 per cent over the year. The seasonally adjusted implicit price deflator for household final consumption was up 0.4 per cent in the March quarter, from a rise of 0.6 per cent in the previous quarter, and was up 2.8 per cent over the year. Farm GDP, in chain volume measures, rose 2.9 per cent in the March quarter to be down 5.3 per cent in the 12 months to March.