Australia Q3 GDP misses, comes in at 0.3%

Australia's Gross Domestic Product for 2018's third quarter widely missed market forecasts of 0.6%, clocking in at just 0.3% versus the previous quarter's showing of 0.9%.

Key highlights (via ABS)

The Australian economy grew 0.3 per cent in seasonally adjusted chain volume terms in the September quarter 2018, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today. 

ABS Chief Economist, Bruce Hockman, said: “The household sector drove domestic growth with increased consumption supported by moderate rises in household income.”

Household consumption rose 0.3 per cent driven by non-discretionary spending on food and housing. Spending on discretionary items slowed during the quarter. Household gross disposable income continued to grow at a slow pace due to moderate growth in household income being partially offset by a rise in income tax payable.
The subdued growth in gross disposable income coupled with an increase in household consumption resulted in the household saving ratio declining to 2.4 per cent in the September quarter. This is the lowest saving rate since December 2007.