Australia: Capex will drag on Q4 GDP – AMP’s Oliver

Dr. Shane Oliver, Head of Investment Strategy and Chief Economist at AMP Capital – Australia’s largest life insurer and huge fund manager, expressed his take on the latest Australian Capex data release and its impact on the country’s growth numbers.

Key quotes

Australian December quarter business investment -2.8% QoQ due to a 5.9% fall in building investment which was consistent with the fall in construction.

Equipment investment was +0.8%, mining -2.7%, manufacturing -10.1% and other -1.9%.

Capex will drag on Dec quarter GDP, which we currently expect to be just +0.3% QoQ.