Australia Current Account

Australia's current account deficit declined to AUD 12.5 billion in Q4 2024 from a downwardly revised AUD 13.9 billion shortfall in Q3, indicating the seventh consecutive quarter of deficit despite missing market expectations of an AUD 11.9 billion gap. It marked the smallest current account gap since Q1 of 2024 as the surplus of goods and services increased to AUD 7.5 billion, the biggest in three quarters, from AUD 3.8 billion in Q3, largely attributed to rising goods exports, led by rises in rural goods exports. Meanwhile, the shortfall of net primary income widened to AUD 19.8 billion from the prior gap of AUD 17.5 billion, due to higher debt liability interest paid as the number of Australian-issued debt securities owned by non-residents grew over the recent quarter, as well as increased dividends paid by Australian firms to overseas investors. Also, the net secondary income deficit rose slightly to AUD 247 million from AUD 201 million in Q3.