Australia’s economy set to pick up pace over the next 2 years - RTRS poll

Results of the latest Reuters poll of economists on the Australian economic outlook showed that a majority of them believe the OZ economic growth is set to pick up pace over the next two years, in the wake of strong employment and government spending on infrastructure. However, looming concerns over rising household debt will continue to remain a drag on the economy.

Key Findings:

Economists polled by Reuters estimated Australia’s A$1.7 trillion ($1.33 trillion) of annual gross domestic product (GDP) would grow 2.3 percent in 2017, unchanged from July’s forecast.

The economy expanded by only 1.8 percent in the year to June but mainly due to a weather-beaten contraction in the third quarter of 2016. 

Growth was then seen accelerating to 2.8 percent for both 2018 and 2019, extending Australia’s run of 26 years without a technical recession.

Analysts expected consumer price inflation to run at 2.0 percent this year, the very bottom of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) 2-3 percent target range, and to pick up only gradually to 2.3 percent by 2019.