Are we about to print a current account surplus?

Thursday 2 February 2017

Some more on today’s not unexpected trade revenue explosion via Domainfax:

Tapas Strickland, NAB:

The surplus reflects a positive story of higher commodity prices and rising export volumes, which should support economic activity in 2017. A string of further trade surpluses is likely over the first half of 2017 given higher commodity prices and increasing volumes. (The bumper numbers) should eliminate any fears out there that Australia was at risk of recording a ‘technical recession’ after the weak Q3 GDP figures.The trade balance may also make a credit rating downgrade by S&P less likely.

The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers

$1 for your first month, then:

$24.99 / month

$249 / year

Cancel at any time through our billing provider, Stripe

About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.