Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia

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Balance of payments statistics on current, capital and financial transactions and the international investment position statement

Reference period
March 2024
Released
4/06/2024

Key statistics

  • The current account balance, seasonally adjusted, declined $7,563m to a deficit of $4,896m.
  • The capital and financial account surplus was $8,307m, an increase of $16,912m on the December quarter 2023 deficit. 
  • The net international investment liability position was $730,268m at 31 March 2024.

International accounts overview

Key figures ($m)
 Dec 23Mar 24
Balance on current account (a)2,667-4,896
Balance on goods and services (a)23,86617,765
Net primary income (a)-20,807-22,300
Capital and financial account-8,6058,307
International investment position (b)834,180730,268
  1. Seasonally adjusted estimates in current price terms.
  2. Levels at end of period.

The current account balance (seasonally adjusted, current price) for March quarter 2024 was a deficit of $4.9b. This was a decrease of $7.6b from the revised December quarter 2023 current account surplus of $2.7b.

The current account deficit for March quarter 2024 reflects a smaller trade surplus on the balance of goods and services, while the net primary income deficit increased.

The balance on goods and services in seasonally adjusted chain volume terms is expected to detract 0.9 percentage points from the March quarter 2024 GDP quarterly movement. 

The terms of trade increased 0.2% to 94.9, up from 94.7 in December quarter 2023. 

The net primary income deficit increased to $22.3b, following the $20.8b deficit in December quarter 2023.

Australia's net international investment liability position was $730.3b at 31 March 2024, a decrease of $103.9b on the revised December quarter 2023 position of $834.2b.

 

  1. Seasonally adjusted estimates in current price terms.

Current Account

Balance on current account, current price, seasonally adjusted ($m)
 Dec 23Mar 24Dec 23 to Mar 24
Balance on current account2,667-4,896-7,563
Balance on goods and services23,86617,765-6,101
Net goods29,72922,813-6,916
Net Services-5,863-5,048815
Net primary income-20,807-22,300-1,493
Net secondary income-392-36131

Terms of trade

Relationship between IPD, EPI and IPI

Balance on goods and services

In seasonally adjusted chain volume terms, the balance on goods and services was a surplus of $24,996m, a fall of $5,541m on the revised December quarter 2023 surplus of $30,537m.

  1. Seasonally adjusted, reference year 2021-22=100.

Exports of goods (credits)

In seasonally adjusted terms at current prices, goods credits fell $2,028m (-1.5%) to $135,868m, with volumes up 1.1% and prices down 2.5%.

 

Goods credits, price and volume change, seasonally adjusted - March quarter 2024
 Current prices ($m)Current prices (%)Chain volume measures (a)(b)(%)Implicit price deflators (a)(b)(%)
Exports of goods-2,028-1.51.1-2.5
 Rural goods-377-2.2-2.90.7
 Non-rural goods-2,551-2.31.4-3.6
 Net exports of goods under merchanting-78-144.4-145.1-1.4
 Non-monetary gold(c)97812.48.63.5
  1. Reference year 2021-22=100.
  2. Movements in indexes are calculated from unrounded data.
  3. This component is not seasonally adjusted.

Rural goods

Non-rural goods

Imports of goods (debits)

In seasonally adjusted terms at current prices, goods debits rose $4,888m (4.5%) to $113,055m, with volumes up 6.5% and prices down 1.8%. 

Goods debits, price and volume change, seasonally adjusted - March quarter 2024
 Current prices ($m)Current prices (%)Chain volume measures (a)(b)(%)Implicit price deflators (a)(b)(%)
Total Goods Imports4,8884.56.5-1.8
 Consumption goods2,4267.39.5-2.0
 Capital goods6422.42.7-0.3
 Intermediate and other merchandise goods1,7753.86.8-2.7
 Non-monetary gold(c)452.0-1.83.8
  1. Reference year 2021-22=100.
  2. Movements in indexes are calculated from unrounded data.
  3. This component is not seasonally adjusted.

Consumption goods

Capital goods

Intermediate and other merchandise goods

Services

Services exports, price and volume change, seasonally adjusted - March quarter 2024
 Current prices ($m)Current prices (%)Chain volume measures (a)(b)(%)Implicit price deflators (a)(b)(%)
Exports of services1780.6-1.11.7
 Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others----
 Maintenance and repair services n.i.e.-4-40.0-41.32.2
 Transport-31-1.66.3-7.4
 Travel1971.1-2.23.3
 Other services160.2-0.30.4

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

  1. Reference year 2021-22=100.
  2. Movements in indexes are calculated from unrounded data.
Services imports, price and volume change, seasonally adjusted - March quarter 2024
 Current prices ($m)Current prices (%)Chain volume measures (a)(b)(%)Implicit price deflators (a)(b)(%)
Imports of services-637-1.80.7-2.5
 Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others----
 Maintenance and repair services n.i.e.-26-9.7-9.4-0.3
 Transport2403.710.4-6.1
 Travel-843-4.9-3.5-1.4
 Other services-8-0.1-0.10.0

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

  1. Reference year 2021-22=100.
  2. Movements in indexes are calculated from unrounded data.

Income

Net primary income deficit widened by $1,493m to $22,300m in the March quarter 2024. 

  1.  Seasonally adjusted estimates in current price terms.

Primary income credits

Primary income credits, in seasonally adjusted, current price terms rose $901m (3.6%). The key components contributing to the increase were:

  • Direct investment assets - income on equity and investment fund shares; up $503m (6.1%)
  • Portfolio investment assets - income on equity and investment fund shares; up $497m (5.9%)

Partly offset by:

  • Other investment assets; down $94m (4.7%)

Primary income debits

Primary income debits, in seasonally adjusted, current price terms rose $2,394m (5.2%). The key components contributing to the increase were:

  • Direct investment liabilities - income on equity and investment fund shares; up $2,802m (17.9%)
  • Portfolio investment liabilities - interest; up $365m (2.7%)

Partly offset by:

  • Portfolio investment liabilities - income on equity and investment fund shares; down $1,020m (11.5%)

Secondary income

In current price seasonally adjusted terms, the net secondary income deficit fell $31m to $361m.

Secondary income credits rose $93m (2.9%) while debits rose $62m (1.7%) in the March quarter 2024. 

Capital and Financial Account

The capital and financial account recorded a surplus of $8.3b during the March 2024 quarter, driven by the financial account surplus of $8.3b.

The financial account recorded a surplus due to a $15.3b net inflow of equity and a $7.0b net outflow of debt.

Capital and financial account ($m)
 Jun 23Sep 23Dec 23Mar 24Dec 23 to
Mar 24
Capital account-202-171-14746193
 Acquisitions/disposals of non-produced non-financial assets-63-52-17181198
  Acquisitions/disposals of non-produced non-financial assets credits--3209206
  Acquisitions/disposals of non-produced non-financial assets debits-63-52-20-28-8
 Capital transfers-139-119-130-135-5
  Capital transfers credits-----
  Capital transfers debits-139-119-130-135-5
Financial account-11,65010,138-8,4588,26116,719
 Direct investment885-33325,03215,855-9,177
  Direct investment assets3,508-11,913-2,853-10,678-7,825
  Direct investment liabilities-2,62311,58027,88526,533-1,352
 Portfolio investment-20,376-7,3005,120-8,349-13,469
  Portfolio investment assets-4,469-27,684-47,481-41,9375,544
  Portfolio investment liabilities-15,90620,38552,60133,589-19,012
 Financial derivatives-2398,592-35,795-7,11328,682
  Financial derivatives assets69,61375,965152,512154,3221,810
  Financial derivatives liabilities-69,852-67,373-188,307-161,43526,872
 Other investment7,9708,554-3,05710,09413,151
  Other investment assets25,214-1,67611,3099,313-1,996
  Other investment liabilities-17,24410,231-14,36678115,147
 Reserve assets110624242-2,227-2,469
Net errors and omissions3,5314,2341,645-3,396-5,041

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

International Investment Position

Australia's international investment liability position was $730.3b at 31 March 2024, a decrease of $103.9b on the revised 31 December 2023 figure of $834.2b. Australia's net foreign equity asset position increased $131.8b to $505.5b and Australia's net foreign debt liability position increased $27.9b to $1,235.7b.

International investment position, by net foreign equity and net foreign debt ($m)
 Position at beginning of periodTransactionsPrice changesExchange rate changesOther adjustmentsPosition at end of period
Net International Investment PositionSep‑23841,85410,138-2,015-32,138-9,128808,711
Dec‑23808,711-8,458-25,75663,856-4,174834,180
Mar‑24834,1808,261-85,078-14,279-12,816730,268
Net Foreign EquitySep‑23-330,2606,33012,378-31,534-15,816-358,903
Dec‑23-358,903-12,698-52,38158,404-8,117-373,694
Mar‑24-373,69415,274-81,089-49,910-16,043-505,461
Net Foreign DebtSep‑231,172,1143,809-14,392-6046,6871,167,614
Dec‑231,167,6144,24026,6255,4523,9421,207,874
Mar‑241,207,874-7,013-3,98935,6313,2271,235,729

Changes in this issue

Revisions to Travel Services debits

This issue incorporates revisions to the Travel Services debits series following the reintroduction of the National Visitors Survey (NVS) data to determine the 2022-23 annual benchmark. The utilisation of NVS data has resulted in revisions to Travel Services debits back to September quarter 2022. The revised estimates more accurately reflect the value of travel debits as the pattern of Australian residents travelling overseas returns towards pre-pandemic levels. These revisions will also be incorporated in the March quarter 2024 release of Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product.

Seasonal adjustment for leap years

The extra leap year day in 2024 has been accounted for in seasonally adjusted statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for the month of February 2024 and the March quarter 2024.  The impact of an additional leap year day is analysed and accounted for as part of the seasonal adjustment process, which includes the impact of trading days. The impact of the extra leap year day will be evident in the original (non-seasonally adjusted) series. For more information please refer to this note.

Data downloads

Time series spreadsheets

Data files

Supplementary Information

Value adjustments

Revisions

Economic conditions

COVID-19 in this publication

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 5302.0.

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