The largest quarterly goods and services surplus on record at $19.9 billion and a narrowing net income deficit to $13.9 billion, contributed to Australia recording a seasonally adjusted $5.9 billion current account surplus for the June quarter 2019, according to latest information released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). This is Australia’s first current account surplus since the June quarter 1975.
This is thanks to the high iron ore price, which of course has now dropped back significantly. The RBA’s expectation of a 0.8% GDP number tomorrow still seems far fetched, but we might just escape a negative quarter…
The ABS shows this quite clearly.
ABS Chief Economist Bruce Hockman said: “Six consecutive quarters of goods and services surpluses, broadly commodity driven, have laid the foundation for our first current account surplus in 44 years.
“The surplus is both a price and volume story. Similar to the March quarter 2019, continued global supply interruptions have maintained high iron ore prices into the June quarter, boosting our export receipts to record levels.
“Export volumes for the key bulk commodities of liquid natural gas, coal and iron ore were up, while volumes fell across several import categories resulting in an increased June quarter trade surplus.”
Contribution to Gross Domestic Product
In seasonally adjusted chain volume terms, the balance on goods and services surplus increased $2.7 billion, widening the surplus to $6.4 billion. The rising exports and falling imports resulted in an expected contribution of 0.6 percentage points to growth in the June quarter 2019 Gross Domestic Product.
International Investment Position
Australia’s net international investment position was a liability of $1,001.6 billion at 30 June 2019, an increase of $9.2 billion on the revised 31 March 2019 position of $992.3 billion.
Australia’s net foreign debt liability position increased $19.4 billion to $1,143.5 billion. Australia’s net foreign equity asset position increased $10.2 billion to $141.9 billion at 30 June 2019.
