05.03.201820:31:00UTC+00Australia Q4 Current Account Deficit Balloons To A$14.024 Billion

The current account deficit in Australia climbed to a seasonally adjusted A$14.024 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.

That missed forecasts for a shortfall of A$12.2 billion following the downwardly revised A$11.013 billion deficit in the three months prior (originally -A$9.1 billion).

The deficit on goods and services rose A$2.064 billion from A$11.017 billion in the third quarter to A$13.081 billion in Q4.

Net exports of GDP fell 0.5 percent, which beat expectations for a fall of 0.6 percent following the flat reading in Q3.

There was a turnaround of A$2.094 billion on the balance on goods and services, resulting in a deficit of A$117 million in Q4. The primary income deficit rose A$899 million to A$13.666 billion.

Australia's net IIP liability position was A$986.2 billion in Q4, an increase of A$27.8 billion (3 percent) on the revised third quarter position of A$958.4 billion.

Australia's net foreign debt liabilities increased A$19.6 billion (2 percent) to $1,010.0 billion. Australia's net foreign equity assets decreased A$8.3 billion (26 percent) to A$23.8 billion.

Also on Tuesday, the ABS said that the total value of retail sales in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent on month in January, coming in at A$26.263 billion.

That missed expectations for an increase of 0.4 percent following the 0.5 percent contraction in December.

Food retailing added 0.3 percent in January, along with) household goods retailing (0.5 percent), cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (0.3 percent), clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (0.3 percent), and other retailing (0.1 percent).

Department stores (-0.2 percent) fell January.

By region, sales were up 0.5 percent in Victoria, along with Queensland (0.3 percent), New South Wales (0.2 percent), South Australia (0.5 percent), Western Australia (0.1 percent), and Tasmania (0.3 percent).

The Australian Capital Territory was relatively unchanged (0.0 percent), while the Northern Territory (-0.1 percent) fell in January.