Australia's economic growth story this year would be pretty lacklustre if not for one saving grace.
With rising interest rates and the Iran war suppressing growth across the economy, a boom in data centre investment has bucked the trend.
March quarter gross domestic product figures to be released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday are expected to show a moderate slowdown to 0.5 per cent, with annual growth tracking for 2.6 per cent.
But the figure would have been even lower without a record $8.6 billion in data centre expenditure - a rise of 96 per cent.
The national accounts data will likely show new investment accelerated to six per cent in the quarter and 10.3 per cent annually - the strongest quarterly growth since 2012 - said Westpac senior economist Pat Bustamante.
