NO.056

Retail Trade: Continuing Good Economic News

Today’s retail trade number of 1.1 per cent in the month of June and 1.0 per

cent in real terms for the June quarter is encouraging for continuing economic

growth.

It is the latest in a succession of confidence building news on the economy,

including strong building approvals and trade figures.

Monday’s trade figures showed a trade surplus in the month of June of $537

million, and for the year of 2000-01 of $0.7 billion, which is a turnaround

on the deficit of $14.4 billion for 1999-2000. This result has been helped by

a super-competitive exchange rate and the Government’s tax reforms which have

removed taxes from exports. It is also good news for Australian exporters across

all sectors, including rural and non-rural sectors. In particular, the export

performance is putting money back into rural Australia. Australia’s trade position

has held up despite a weakening world economy and is contributing to a growth

rate which is stronger than almost every other developed country.

The rise in building approvals of 3 per cent in June, following last month’s

27.4 rise was very good news for the construction industry and shows that homebuyers

are continuing to benefit from the Government’s low interest rate policy and

its First Home Owner’s Scheme.

These outcomes both feed into and reflect business and consumer confidence

measures. The last National Australia Bank Survey showed a lift in business

confidence while recent Westpac Consumer Sentiment Surveys have shown a continuing

rise in consumer confidence. Consensus forecasts now have Australia growing

faster than almost all developed countries in 2002.

CANBERRA

1 August 2001