Australia: Annual National Accounts confirm real GDP grew by 2.0% in 2016/17 – Westpac

Australia's annual national accounts confirm that the economy expanded by 2.0% in the 2016/17 financial year, matching the estimate reported by the quarterly accounts, published on September 6, notes Andrew Hanlan, Senior Economist at Westpac.

Key Quotes

“Across the expenditure items, there were some revisions.”

“Domestic demand grew by 2.0%, rounded up from 1.9%. An upward revision to public demand, to a blistering 5.2% from 4.6%, more than offset a downgrade of private demand, to 1.0% from 1.2%.”

“Consumer spending was marked down, to 2.1% from 2.4%.”

“Home building was upgraded, to 2.7% from 1.6%, a somewhat more resilient result, consistent with the strength in approvals.”

“Business investment was lowered, to -4.4% from -3.9%.”

“Exports and imports were not greatly altered, while the contribution from real net exports was rounded up, to -0.2ppts from -0.3ppts.”