Gross domestic product September quarter 2017

Australia's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.6 per cent to $430.7 billion in the September quarter 2017, in seasonally adjusted terms (Chart 1). In year on year terms, GDP increased by 2.3 per cent to $1.7 trillion, in original terms.

Expenditure (seasonally adjusted data)

Australia's consumption expenditure increased by 0.2 per cent in the September quarter 2017, driven by growth in general government and household consumption (Chart 2). Consumption expenditure contributed 0.1 percentage points to GDP growth in the September quarter 2017.

Household consumption increased by 0.1 per cent in the quarter to $250.8 billion, primarily driven by growth in expenditure in rent and other dwelling services (up 0.6 per cent), insurance and other financial services (up 1.3 per cent), and food (up 1.0 per cent). This was partly offset by declines in expenditure on hotels, cafes and restaurants (down 0.9 per cent), health services (down 1.0 per cent), and furnishings and household equipment (down 0.8 per cent).

General government consumption increased by 0.2 per cent to $81.7 billion in the September quarter 2017. This was driven by increases in state and local government consumption (up 0.4 per cent), and national defence consumption (up 3.3 per cent), partly offset by national non‑defence (down 1.1 per cent).

Investment increased by 1.8 per cent to $108.2 billion in the September quarter 2017. This was mainly driven by an increase of 4.5 per cent in private investment, partly offset by a decrease of 7.5 per cent in public investment (Chart 3).

Growth in private investment reflects an increase in business investment (up 8.6 per cent), partly offset by decreases in dwelling investment (down 1.0 per cent) and ownership transfer costs (down 3.9 per cent).

Australia's net exports worsened by $145 million to a trade deficit of $9.7 billion in the September quarter 2017, driven by a 1.9 per cent increase in imports to $97.5 billion, partly offset by an increase of 1.9 per cent in exports to $87.8 billion.

Production (seasonally adjusted data)

The main industries that contributed to the increase in GDP in the September quarter 2017 were manufacturing (up 1.5 per cent), health care and social assistance services (up by 1.3 per cent), mining (up 1.1 per cent) and professional, scientific and technical services (up 0.7 per cent). This was partly offset by decreases in agriculture, forestry and fishing (down 4.1 per cent), rental, hiring and real estate services (down 1.6 per cent), and information media and telecommunications services (down 1.3 per cent).