DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

			Sep Qtr 2010	Dec Qtr 2010	Sep Qtr 2010 to Dec Qtr 2010
			$m	$m	% change
BALANCE ON CURRENT ACCOUNT
	Trend estimates		-6 244	-6 201	1
	Seasonally adjusted		-6 490	-7 299	-12
BALANCE ON GOODS AND SERVICES
	Trend estimates		6 323	6 847	8
	Seasonally adjusted		6 030	6 756	12
NET PRIMARY INCOME
	Trend estimates		-12 194	-12 706	-4
	Seasonally adjusted		-12 168	-13 713	-13
LEVELS AT END OF PERIOD
	International Investment Position		787 834	782 103	-1
		Net foreign equity	110 819	131 833	19
		Net foreign debt	677 016	650 270	-4

Current Account, Main aggregates - Trend estimates at current prices (a)

International Investment

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


BALANCE OF PAYMENTS

• The current account deficit, seasonally adjusted, rose $809m (12%) to $7,299m in the December quarter 2010. The surplus on the balance of goods and services rose $726m (12%) to $6,756m. The primary income deficit rose $1,545m (13%) to $13,713m.
• In seasonally adjusted chain volume terms, the deficit on goods and services rose $24m (5%) from $448m in the September quarter 2010 to $472m in the December quarter 2010. This is expected to make no contribution to growth in the December quarter 2010 volume measure of GDP.

INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT POSITION (IIP)

• Australia's net IIP declined $5.7b to a net liability position of $782.1b in the December quarter 2010. Australia's net foreign debt liability decreased $26.7b to a liability position of $650.3b. Australia's net foreign equity liability increased $21.0b to a liability position of $131.8b.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
March 2011	31 May 2011
June 2011	6 September 2011
September 2011	6 December 2011

REVISIONS

Table 36 summarises revisions, in original current price terms, since the last issue of this publication, for the last three years and six quarters.

Incorporation of the latest survey and administrative data has resulted in revisions to the current account back to September quarter 2009. In original current price terms, these revisions have:

• decreased the 2009-10 current account deficit by $870m
• increased the current account deficit for September quarter 2009 by $171m
• decreased the current account deficit for December quarter 2009 by $98m
• increased the current account deficit for March quarter 2010 by $101m
• decreased the current account deficit for June quarter 2010 by $1,043m
• decreased the current account deficit for September quarter 2010 by $1,192m.

The financial account and international investment position have been revised back to September quarter 2009, resulting in an increase of $16,522m in Australia's net IIP liability as at 30 September 2010 to a liability position of $787,834m.

Seasonally adjusted and trend series have been revised due to the incorporation of revised estimates and the incorporation of estimates for the latest quarter. In seasonally adjusted terms, these revisions increased the volume deficit on goods and services by $380m for the September quarter 2010.


RELATED PUBLICATIONS

Related publications due for release are detailed in Related Publications:

• Concepts, Sources and Methods Publication
• Characteristics of Australian Exporters
• International Investment Position, Australia, Supplementary Statistics
• Trade in Services Data Cubes.

COMMODITY PRICE ADJUSTMENT

For this issue, no adjustments have been made to the 'metal ores and minerals' or 'coal, coke and briquettes' components. All previous price adjustments applied to these components have been removed.


IMPACT OF THE FLOODS

Flooding in Queensland began in late December 2010. Data collection and processing for the data in this publication were not disrupted. It is expected that the economic impact of floods/cyclones in Queensland and other states will be reflected in the forthcoming issues of this publication.


INQUIRIES

For further information contact Selvi Sekhar on Canberra (02) 6252 5540 for balance of payments estimates, and Charles Kauye on Canberra (02) 6252 5541 for international investment estimates.