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I was in Brisbane on Friday at the Australian Conference of Economists and heard the Treasurer Curtis Pitt announce his plan to shift $4.1 billion of debt from the General Government sector to the energy Government Owned Corporations. He argued that this would save up to $600 million in interest …read more
After the stellar jobs numbers last month (at least, when considering the seasonally adjusted data…see commentary here) it came as no surprise to see a less remarkable set of figures today for June. The headline employment data saw an increase of 7,300 after May was revised slightly lower to +40,000. …read more
Tourism Research Australia have today released their National Visitor Survey for the March quarter (available in full here). It shows domestic tourism in Australia continues to grow and exceed previous records. Total visitor numbers for the year to March 2015 stood at 82.3 million, up 6.1% for the year. Growth …read more
The release of May Building Approvals from the ABS this morning were better than the market had been expecting. Total approvals (seasonally adjusted) rose by 2.4% in May against expectations of a 1.2% increase. This gives us a 17.6% increase from the same time a year ago. However, the increase …read more
The quarterly ABS population estimates for the final quarter of 2014 show total resident population growth has fallen to an annual rate of just 1.4%, the slowest rate of growth since the end of 2010. Net overseas migration fell to just 32,500 in the quarter which is the smallest number …read more
The ABS jobs data for May has surprised on the upside. New jobs created (according to the headline seasonally adjusted series) were at 42,000; well in advance of estimates that centred around 12,000. However, what has been less commented upon is the fact that the April decline (originally slated as …read more
The first quarter GDP data released this morning has surprised the market coming in at +0.9% (exp +0.7%) for an annual rate of +2.3% (exp +2.1%). As a result the A$ took a short rally higher; although that now appears to have rather run out of steam. Stronger growth came …read more
The Building Approvals data for April has come in weaker than anticipated, but the result is due to the (highly volatile) units sector experiencing heavy falls in the month. Seasonally adjusted data shows total approvals fell 4.4% on the month for a 16.3% increase over the year. However, house approvals …read more
Today’s release of Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) data for the first quarter of 2015 has come in weaker than expected as buildings and structures investment fell faster than forecast. The seasonally adjusted chain volume measure shows CAPEX was down 4.4% in Q1 from the previous quarter and fell 5.3% from a …read more
Treasurer Curtis Pitt has made a speech in Parliament today claiming that through the last two quarters of 2014 Queensland was in a “recession we didn’t have to have”. Putting aside the obvious political point scoring going on, is there any sense in which we can claim that Queensland has …read more
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