Economic growth in the March quarter was precariously dependent on a surge in exports which is unlikely to be sustained at its current pace.

Gross domestic product posted a strong rise of 1.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

But if not for a 4.8 per cent rise in exports of goods and services – the biggest rise since before the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games – there would have been no growth at all, according to the national accounts published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.

Exports are always part of the economy’s growth, but the balance at the moment is skewed more than usual in that direction.

The figures showed some growth in household consumption and housing construction, as well as a small contribution from government spending.

But domestic final demand – that’s spending on consumption and investment by Australia households, businesses and governments – rose only 0.3 per cent in the March quarter, and by about the same small margin in the final two quarters of 2013.

With two or three times that generally considered normal, there’s no doubting that domestically focused economic activity is soft.

So the economy needs strong exports growth to be able to sustain economic growth of anything near its long-run potential of a bit over three per cent.

That’s what we got in the March quarter.

This export-led strength in the economy was anticipated by economists, with many upgrading their forecasts on Tuesday after the release of quarterly trade figures, which slot directly into the national accounts.

It was also anticipated, with a much longer lead time, by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

And it’s worthwhile remembering what the central bank said about the expected “especially strong growth of exports” in the minutes of its May 6 board meeting, released two weeks later.

“With this pace of export growth unlikely to be sustained, output growth was expected to be somewhat slower over the next few quarters,” the central bank said.

By “output”, the RBA means GDP, the most comprehensive measure of production.

That means the strong GDP outcome for the March quarter is likely to be a flash in the pan.

And, with minerals exports not expected to generate much additional demand for labour now the labour intensive mining investment phase is winding down, the payoff from strong growth in terms of employment growth is likely to be disappointing.