-
Commodity prices boost Australia’s trade balance and foreshadow GDP growth
The flow through of high commodity prices (particularly coal and natural gas) is clear in today’s current account figures, with the surplus hitting $18.3bn in the June quarter – an impressive $15.6bn increase from the previous quarter and, at $43.1bn, the highest on record. The improvement in the trade balance in volume terms will add 1 percent point to GDP growth in tomorrow’s national accounts data. Encouragingly, the improvement in the trade balance wasn’t just a result of high commodity prices. On the goods side, the volume of agriculture exports increased 5.9 percent on the quarter (helped by improving ... (full story)