Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics

Australia’s GDP, in seasonally adjusted chain volume terms, grew 0.6 per cent in the December quarter 2015, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The growth in expenditure was driven by a rise of 0.8 per cent in Household final consumption expenditure and a rise of 6.0 per cent in Public gross fixed capital formation. These were partially offset by a fall in private business investment (-3.3 per cent), driven by a fall in new engineering construction (-12.3 per cent).

The growth in Household final consumption was reflected in the service industries of Information, media and telecommunications (2.7 per cent), and Retail trade (1.0 per cent). Other industries that had significant growth were Rental, hiring and real estate (2.8 per cent) and Wholesale trade (1.6 per cent).

The December quarter saw the Terms of trade decrease 3.2 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms.