What does it all mean?

• There are not too many countries that can claim to have notched up 22 consecutive years of economic growth. It would be safe to say that Australia sits alone in this elite club, particularly amongst advanced nations. Granted there have been challenges and growth has been somewhat sluggish over the past year. However the outlook has certainly improved. The challenge now will be to expand economic capacity and build on the improvement in productivity.
• The healthy 0.8 per cent growth in the December quarter follows the 0.6 per cent in the September quarter, with annualised growth now lifting to 2.8 per cent. Interestingly the biggest contribution to growth came from net exports, supported by the falling Australian dollar.
• Across Australia, people have been telling us that the economy is patchy and the Reserve Bank is well aware that the key challenge facing the Aussie economy is managing the rebalancing away from mining investment. The housing sector continues to lift and will help to fill part of the void left by the pullback in mining activity. However there is still some hesitancy in the economy from the non-mining private sector to step up and take the baton. It is the one area that the Reserve Bank classified as “tentative” at its recent Board meeting. However given that profitability continues to improve and interest rates are likely to remain around these generational lows over the near term, businesses are likely to look deeper at investment opportunities.
• The economic growth figures are largely important as a historical record. The data can’t tell us much about the here and now. And certainly the figures have limited use in telling us where the economy is going. But for the Reserve Bank the data serves as a base for its forecasts. It’s a case of ticking off the figures to ensure that there are no surprises.
• Overall, the economy is lifting and heading back to a “normal” 3.0 per cent trend pace. Recent data on consumer spending and dwelling approvals have been very encouraging. Economic momentum is likely to lift over 2014. After growing by 2.4 per cent in 2013, the Australian economy is set to lift by around 3.0 per cent over 2014.

What do the figures show?

National Accounts:

• Economic Growth: The economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the December quarter, after 0.6 per cent growth in the September quarter.
• Annual economic growth lifted from 2.4 per cent to 2.8 per cent, and remains below the long-term average of around 3.00 per cent. Productivity growth is around 1.5-2.0 per cent with population growth near 1.8 per cent, indicating scope for the economy to grow around 3.0 – 3.5 per cent without sparking inflation.
• The non-farm economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the December quarter after a 0.7 per cent lift in the September quarter. Annual growth stands at 2.6 per cent.
• Farm GDP grew by 0.8 per cent in the quarter but was up 12.2 per cent over the year.
• At current prices, GDP grew by 1.6 per cent in the quarter and by 4.8 per cent over the year. But the annual growth rate is still well below the decade average of 6.7 per cent. Over the year to the December quarter, the Australian economy was valued at $1555 billion.
• Growth drivers: The biggest contributions to growth in the December quarter came from net exports (+0.6 percentage points) followed by household consumption (+0.4pp), inventories and public investment (both +0.2pp) and government consumption (+0.1pp). The biggest drag on growth was non-dwelling construction (-0.2pp).
• Inflation: In terms of domestic price pressures, the household consumption implicit price deflator was up by 0.8 per cent in the December quarter with annual growth at 2.7 per cent. Real non-farm unit labour costs fell by 1.2 per cent in the quarter (the largest fall in three years) and were down 1.6 per cent over the year.
• Productivity: Gross value added per hours worked in the market sector rose by 1.0 per cent in the December quarter after rising by 0.2 per cent in the September quarter. Annual growth stands at 1.8 per cent. GDP per hour worked rose by 1.2 per cent in the quarter to be up 1.9 per cent over the year.
• The best description of the performance of States and Territory economies is state final demand plus net exports. The Northern Territory had the fastest quarterly growth in the December quarter (up 5.7 per cent), followed by Queensland and Tasmania (both up 0.8 per cent), Victoria and Western Australia (both up 0.7 per cent), NSW (up 0.6 per cent), the ACT (up 0.1 per cent) and South Australia (up less than 0.1 per cent).
• Consumer spending lifts. Household consumption rose by 0.8 per cent in the December quarter (strongest gain in seven quarters), after gains of 0.7 per cent in the September quarter and 0.6 per cent in the June quarter. Annual growth stands at 2.6 per cent. Only three of the 17 sectors recorded weaker spending in the quarter. Clothing & footwear rose by 3.0 per cent but Communications fell the most, down by 2.0 per cent.
• Industry sectors: Just seven of the 19 industry sectors contracted in the December quarter. Mining, Manufacturing, Construction, Rental hiring & real estate services, Finance & insurance services, Heath care & social assistance all contributed 0.1 percentage points to GDP growth.
• Other points:

Ø  Profit share lifts. In seasonally adjusted terms, the ratio of profits to total factor income rose from, 26.7 per cent to 27.3 per cent in the December quarter. The wages share fell from 53.7 per cent to 53.3 per cent.

Ø  Household savings ratio eased. The household saving ratio fell from 10.6 per cent to 9.7 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in the December quarter. In trend terms household saving eased from 10.2 per cent to 9.9 per cent.

Ø  Imports were steady as a share of spending. The imports to sales ratio held steady at 0.383 in the December quarter.

Ø  The inventory to sales ratio fell from 0.645 to 0.636 in the December quarter.

What is the importance of the economic data?

• The quarterly National Income, Expenditure and Product release (national accounts) from the Bureau of Statistics is the most complete assessment of Australia’s economic performance. Detailed estimates are provided on incomes (wages, profits), spending (such as household, dwelling investment and trade (exports and imports) and production (comparing industry performance). Other data includes household saving and the economic performance of States and Territories.
• The main use of the national accounts figures is as a historical record of economic performance. The information has little forward-looking value for currency, interest rate or share markets.
• The national accounts data is backward looking. The forward-looking Reserve Bank stated yesterday that “interest rates are very low and savers continue to look for higher returns...” The RBA also noted “slightly firmer consumer demand and foreshadows a solid expansion in housing construction. Some indicators of business conditions and confidence have shown improvement and exports are rising.”
• While we expect the economy to strengthen over 2014, it is very likely that policymakers will leave rates at 54-year lows until the recovery is more fully-fledged.

What are the implications for interest rates and investors?

•  The national accounts data is backward looking. The forward-looking Reserve Bank stated yesterday that “interest rates are very low and savers continue to look for higher returns...” The RBA also noted “slightly firmer consumer demand and foreshadows a solid expansion in housing construction. Some indicators of business conditions and confidence have shown improvement and exports are rising.”
• While we expect the economy to strengthen over 2014, it is very likely that policymakers will leave rates at 54-year lows until the recovery is more fully-fledged.