The Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates earlier this month after it realised the outlook for economic growth was even worse than expected.
Minutes of a board meeting on 7 April, issued on Tuesday, show the RBA acknowledged the economic slowdown had probably met the conventional benchmark for recession - two consecutive quarters of declining gross domestic product.
However, the minutes say: "The latest set of indicators suggested that GDP was likely to have fallen again in the March quarter."
GDP fell 0.5% in real, seasonally adjusted terms, in the December quarter according to estimates issued by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in March.
The minutes acknowledge that the forecast before the board on 7 April was bleaker than the outlook underpinning a earlier quarterly statement on monetary policy issued on 6 February, and confirmed that a further deterioration in the labour market was likely.
The RBA cut the rate the following day, 8 April, to 3% - the lowest for 48 years.
