Australia: Q2 Current account deficit widens to -$A13.5b - TDS

Analysts at TD Securities note that Australia’s Q2 net exports as expected added +0.1%pt to GDP, even though the current account deficit was wider at -$A13.5b closer to TD -$A12.0b than market -$A11.0b.

Key Quotes

“We knew there was a trade surplus, so the wider outcome was from the invisibles deficit (i.e. lower income and/or more debits to foreigners).”

“Q2 government spending was not as punchy as we expected as general government investment spending was offset by a dip in public corps investment. Hence, we downgraded our GDP forecast from +1.0% to +0.8%/q.”

“We should still see a 3-handle on GDP annual growth as all revisions point to Q1 being revised up.”