AUSTRALIA-ECONOMY/FLOODS (URGENT)
SYDNEY, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Floods inundating Australia's state of Queensland could cut up to 1 percentage point from economic growth, a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia's board was reported as saying, the largest estimate yet for the potential damage.
Warren McKibbin, an academic and a member of the central bank's policy making board, was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald as saying a fair chunk of Queensland's economy had just stopped.
"If you look at the infrastructure damage and all the networks that have been broken, a hit to the economy of 1 per cent is not out of the question," McKibbin said.
A percentage point of Australia's A$1.3 trillion in annual gross domestic product (GDP) is equal to around A$13 billion. Most bank economists had estimated the drag could be at most 0.5 percentage points, with rebuilding adding to growth once the floods had passed. (Reporting by Wayne Cole)