Gross Domestic Product March quarter 2016

economic brief

Gross Domestic Product

AUST

Change in quarter (seasonally adjusted)

1.1%

Annual change (seasonally adjusted)

3.1%

Year on year change (original)

2.7%

Australia's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 1.1 per cent to $420.0 billion in the March quarter 2016,
in seasonally adjusted terms (Chart 1). In the year to March 2016, GDP increased by 2.7 per cent to $1.7 trillion,
in original terms.
Expenditure (seasonally adjusted data)
Australia's consumption increased by 0.7 per cent in the March quarter 2016, driven by growth in both
household and general government consumption (Chart 2). Consumption expenditure contributed
0.5 percentage points to GDP growth in the quarter.
Household consumption increased by 0.7 per cent in the quarter to $233.0 billion, primarily driven by growth in
expenditure on insurance and other financial services (up 1.6 per cent), food (up 0.8 per cent) and rent and
other dwelling services (up 0.6 per cent). This was partly offset by declines in expenditure on purchases of
cigarettes and tobacco (down 2.8 per cent) and motor vehicles (down 0.4 per cent).
General government consumption grew by 0.9 per cent to $74.3 billion in the March quarter 2016, driven by
increases in national defence consumption (3.8 per cent) and non-defence national government consumption
(1.2 per cent).
National investment declined by 1.7 per cent to $98.5 billion in the March quarter 2016, largely driven by a
decline in private investment (down 2.2 per cent) (Chart 3).
The decline in private investment reflects decreases in engineering construction (down 6.4 per cent) and
non-dwelling construction (down 7.7 per cent). This was partly offset by an increase in total dwellings investment
(up 1.4 per cent).
Public investment increased 0.7 per cent in the March quarter 2016.
Australia's net exports increased by 60.0 per cent in the quarter to $12.6 billion, adding 1.1 percentage points to
GDP growth. This was driven by an increase of 4.4 per cent in exports, as well as a decline of 0.8 per cent in
imports in the March quarter 2016.
Production (seasonally adjusted data)
The main industries that contributed to GDP growth in the March quarter 2016 were mining (up by 6.2 per cent),
financial and insurance services (up 1.8 per cent) and public administration and safety (up 2.4 per cent). This
was offset by declines in construction (down 1.1 per cent) and rental, hiring and real estate services (down 1.5
per cent).

Economic Group Department of Treasury and Finance (08) 8999 6801 www.treasury.nt.gov.au economics.dtf@nt.gov.au

economic brief

Gross Domestic Product March quarter 2016

Released: 1 June 2016 Next Release: 7 September 2016

economic brief

Gross Domestic Product March quarter 2016

Released: 1 June 2016 Next Release: 7 September 2016

economic brief

Gross Domestic Product March quarter 2016

Although all due care has been exercised in the preparation of this material, no responsibility is accepted for any errors or omission.

Released: 1 June 2016 Next Release: 7 September 2016