Australia’s Private Sector Investment Needs a Recovery

Australia’s economy increased 0.8% in the June quarter, according to seasonally adjusted, chain volume measures released Wednesday. This brings annual GDP growth to 1.8% at the end of June. The results reinforce Australia as ‘the lucky country’, as we enter the 104th consecutive quarter without recession.

But aggregate growth figures mask one of the longest declines in private sector, gross capital formation in Australia’s history. Gross capital formation refers to spending on fixed…