Australia Current Account Deficit Larger than Expected

Australia's current account deficit widened to AUD 16.6 billion in the third quarter of 2025, up from an upwardly revised AUD 16.2 billion in the second quarter and exceeding market expectations of a AUD 13.3 billion shortfall. This marked the largest current account gap since the fourth quarter of 2024, as the goods and services surplus declined to AUD 2.5 billion in Q3 2025 from AUD 2.8 billion in the previous quarter, while the net secondary income shifted to a deficit of AUD 0.5 billion from a surplus of AUD 0.06 billion. Meanwhile, the net primary income deficit narrowed to AUD 18.7 billion in Q3 from AUD 19.0 billion in Q2, driven by a AUD1.7 billion rise in primary income credits (inflows) and partly offset by an increase of $1.4 billion in primary income debits (outflows). The increase in inflows was driven by higher profits from Australian direct equity investment holdings and continued strong returns on portfolio equity investments held overseas.

Australia's current account deficit narrowed to AUD 13.7 billion in the second quarter of 2025, down from a downwardly revised AUD 14.1 billion in the first quarter, and smaller than market expectations of a AUD 15.1 billion shortfall. This marked the smallest current account gap since the third quarter of 2024. The goods and services surplus declined to AUD 3.1 billion in Q2 2025 from AUD 4.3 billion in the previous quarter, while the net primary income deficit decreased to AUD 16.8 billion from AUD 18.0 billion. "Strong imports of non-monetary gold and travel services led to a fall in the goods and services surplus," Jonathon Khoo, ABS head of international statistics, said. Additionally, net secondary income posted a AUD 0.04 billion surplus, swinging from a AUD 0.4 billion deficit in Q1.

Australia's current account deficit narrowed to AUD 14.7 billion in the first quarter of 2025 from an upwardly revised AUD 16.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, albeit larger than market expectations of a AUD 12 billion shortfall. Still, this marked the eighth consecutive quarter of deficit, as the goods and services surplus declined slightly to AUD 5.2 billion in Q1 2025 from AUD 5.4 billion in the previous quarter, mainly due to a widening in the net services deficit to AUD 10.2 billion from AUD 9.8 billion. In addition, the net secondary income deficit increased to AUD 0.5 billion from AUD 0.1 billion. Meanwhile, the net primary income deficit narrowed to AUD 19.4 billion from AUD 21.6 billion in Q4 2024.