Australia’s economy grew by 0.2% in the second quarter of 2024, in line with an upwardly revised 0.2% growth in the previous quarter but below market estimates of a 0.3% rise.
Link to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Q2 2024 GDP report
The report detailed:
- Local final order Contributed 0.2% to GDP
- Government spendingDriven by social benefits for families, it added 0.3% to GDP.
- net trading activities Contributed 0.2% to GDP thanks to higher exports (+0.5%) and lower imports (-0.2%)
- Home consumption Due to lower discretionary spending, 0.1% of GDP was deducted.
- Stock changes GDP fell by 0.3%.
- investment It had no contribution to growth.
On an annualized basis, GDP slowed from 1.1% to 1.0% in the second quarter. In fact, the argument goes that the economy would have stopped growing without increased government spending due to expanded benefits for households. What a surprise!
Australian Dollar vs Major Currencies: 5 minutes
Comparison between the Australian Dollar and major currencies Chart by TradingView
The Australian dollar, which tracked the sell-off on Wall Street at the start of the Asian session, continued its brief decline after the report was released.
But the weak details in the report quickly took their toll and the Australian dollar fell to near intraday lows.
The pair remains in the red across the board, with the biggest losses against the Swiss franc, Canadian dollar and euro and the smallest losses against the New Zealand dollar, Japanese yen and British pound.