The current account balance fell to a deficit of $27.1 billion in March quarter 2026 (current prices, seasonally adjusted), according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Jonathon Khoo, ABS head of international statistics, said: 'Trade in goods and services fell into a deficit for the first time since December quarter 2017, with exports of mining commodities falling and imports of data centre equipment and fuels rising.'
'The current account balance fell for the fourth quarter in a row. As a share of nominal GDP the current account deficit is expected to be the largest since June 2016.'
Exports of goods and services fell 1.2 per cent in the March quarter, led by a 1.2 per cent fall in goods.
Iron ore and coal led the fall in mining commodity exports.
'Iron ore prices fell strongly, while both iron ore and coal exports were disrupted by cyclones Koji and Mitchell,' Mr Khoo said.
Exports of services fell 1.3 per cent, led by education-related Travel services, with a smaller intake of international students.
Imports of goods and services rose 0.8 per cent, led by a 1.5 per cent rise in goods. ADP equipment and Fuels and lubricants led the rise.
'ADP equipment imports reached historic highs, led by bulk imports of AI server racks amid continued data centre infrastructure investment in New South Wales and Victoria,' Mr Khoo said.
'Crude oil and refined petroleum product prices rose significantly as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz lifted oil prices and tightened global supply.' Mr Khoo said.
Non-monetary gold exports and imports both rose, up 23.7 per cent and 12.9 per cent respectively.
Gold prices continued to reach historic highs, with the tenth straight quarterly rise across both exports and imports.
The net primary income balance fell by $0.4 billion to a deficit of $23.7 billion in the March quarter.
Primary income debits (outflows) drove the fall, increasing $1.2 billion to $52.4 billion, due to increased earnings of foreign owned companies in Australia.
'Foreign owned mining companies in Australia saw higher profits this quarter due to price rises in gold and profits paid back to foreign owners and shareholders.' Mr Khoo said.
This was partly offset by a $0.8 billion rise in primary income credits (inflows) to $28.7 billion, due to higher earnings by overseas subsidiaries of Australian companies who benefited from increased global commodity prices.
Australia's net international investment position increased $62.3 billion to a net liability position of $707.6 billion. This was driven by a $85.3 billion fall in net foreign equity asset position, due to weaker foreign equity markets and a higher Australian dollar.
'Volatility in overseas equity markets and exchange rate movements due to the Middle East conflict reduced the value of Australian superannuation investment in overseas equity. This, combined with strong demand by overseas investors for Australian debt, drove Australia's international investment position to its highest liability level since December 2023,' Mr Khoo said.
The financial account recorded a surplus of $18.9 billion, driven by net inflows of debt of $11.2 billion and net inflows of equity of $7.7 billion.
The $5.2 billion fall in net trade (chain volume measures, seasonally adjusted) is expected to detract 0.8 percentage points from the March quarter 2026 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) movement.
