According to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the pace of growth of the Australian economy has slowed in the most recent quarter to 0.3% in (seasonally adjusted) chain volume terms.
For the 2016-2017 period, GDP grew 1.7% overall. Although this represents the slowest level of yearly growth since 2009, it also sees Australia match the Netherlands to share the record for longest stretch of uninterrupted economic growth (103 consecutive quarters).
Compensation of employees (COE) increased 1.0% while the household saving ratio fell to 4.7% for the quarter.
Despite the larger deceleration, the ABS managed to find gains in the economy across the board, finding that 17 out of 20 major industries experienced growth.
They say economic growth was observed within the service industries including Finance and Insurance Services, Wholesale Trade, and Health Care and Social Assistance.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing industries proved the exception here, experiencing a decrease following high growth in the previous two quarters.
Manufacturing growth also fell for the tenth time in eleven quarters.
Chief Economist for the ABS, Bruce Hockman, said in a statement that “This broad-based growth was tempered by falls in exports and dwelling investment. Dwelling investment declined in all states, except Victoria, and overall is the largest decline for Australia since June 2009.”
Mr Hockman added that “even though there was a fall in dwelling investment this quarter, levels are still historically high. There was also positive growth in household consumption, albeit in non-discretionary items such as electricity and fuel purchases. The softer growth in household consumption is broadly in line with modest income growth.”
