The largest quarterly goods and services surplus on record at $21.1 billion and a narrowed net income deficit of $13.0 billion, contributed to Australia recording a seasonally adjusted $7.9 billion current account surplus for the September quarter 2019, according to latest information released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
ABS Chief Economist Bruce Hockman said: "For the first time in 46 years, we have had two consecutive current account surpluses."
"Strong export volumes for non-monetary gold reflected global geo-political developments, whereas iron ore and LNG have shown sustained high export levels, LNG exports in particular reflecting the production impact of the mining boom. Volumes remained steady for imports overall and resulted in an increased September quarter trade surplus."
Contribution to Gross Domestic Product
In seasonally adjusted chain volume terms, the balance on goods and services surplus increased $1.0 billion, widening the surplus to $9.3 billion, with an expected contribution of 0.2 percentage points to growth in the September quarter 2019 Gross Domestic Product.
International investment position
Australia's net international investment position was a liability of $976.0 billion at 30 September 2019, a decrease of $22.0 billion on the revised 30 June 2019 position of $998.0 billion.
Australia's net foreign debt liability position increased $20.4 billion to $1,163.3 billion. Australia's net foreign equity asset position increased $42.4 billion to $187.4 billion at 30 September 2019.
Further details can be found in Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia (cat. no. 5302.0) available for download from http://www.abs.gov.au.
Media notes
- When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) as the source.
- For a definition of chain volume measures, please see the Glossary on the methodology page of Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia (cat. no. 5302.0).
- September quarter 2019, Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product (cat. no. 5206.0) will be released on 4 December 2019.
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