IT’S official, no matter what the doomsayers say and write. Australia now has not had a recession for 26 years — a new world record.

The record was broken when the economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the March quarter, with annual growth to March at 1.7 per cent, official figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show.

Economy grows 0.3 per cent in March quarter, Australian National Accounts figures reveal. #statistics https://t.co/BUP2TXPAsc pic.twitter.com/xpMAxIbX57 — AU Bureau of Stats (@ABSStats) June 7, 2017

The growth is larger than expected, with the economy forecast to have grown by 0.1 per cent in the quarter and to have grown by 1.4 per cent over the 12 months to March 2017, according to economists.

Commonwealth Bank had predicted growth of just 0.1 per cent, with the National Australia Bank forecasting a negative result of -0.1 per cent.

It has now been nearly 26 years — or 103 quarters — since Australia had a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Financial planner Peter Switzer said on his website: ‘Doomday merchants can eat our shorts!’

“The results demonstrate the continued resilience of the Australian economy,” Treasurer Scott Morrison said on Wednesday.

Seventeen of the 20 industry sectors in the economy grew in the March quarter, he added.

“The results also demonstrate the need to continue making the right choices to support more and better paid jobs through economic policies that encourage investment, increase earnings and responsibly manage the nation’s finances, as set out in this year’s Budget.

“The Government’s economic plan acknowledges the challenges that are evident, and were anticipated, in these numbers and we remain determined to get on with the job of implementing our plan to secure the better days ahead.

“I note yesterday the Reserve Bank Governor restated his expectation for growth to increase above 3 per cent in the next couple of years. I also note that the modest economic growth result for the March quarter was anticipated in the Budget, with Treasury revising down the 2016-17 forecast to 1.75 per cent.”

The Australian dollar rallied by a quarter of a US cent to 75.27 cents just after the data was released, as some analysts had predicted a negative first-quarter reading.

Australia last recorded two negative quarters of economic growth in March and June 1991, before enjoying 103 quarters without a recession to equal the record set by The Netherlands.

Economists said the resources-rich nation’s long stretch of expansion was supported by economic reforms in the 1980s and 1990s, such as the floating of the local currency, a flexible labour market, financial sector and capital markets deregulation and lower tariffs.

Australia has also benefited from China’s economic growth and hunger for natural resources, which led to an unprecedented mining investment boom and record commodity prices.

But economists have warned that economic growth in the next few years may not be as rosy.

“In the context of the past few years, it is still a fairly weak outcome,” JP Morgan economist Tom Kennedy told AFP of the latest figures.

“The real issue is that consumption is still pretty soft even though the saving rate fell ... and (capital expenditure) was flat, still not doing anything.

“That’s really important for the Australian economy so the domestic drivers of growth in Australia are still pretty underwhelming.”

Australia is making a rocky transition away from a dependence on mining investment as the boom ends, with the central bank cutting interest rates to a record-low of 1.50 per cent to support growth in non-resources sectors.