The good news for the Australian economy is that exports increased by around 2%, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data, but a significant rise in imports of around 5% caused the overall trade balance to slip further into the red. Overall, not an overly bad sign for the local and regional economies and I don’t think this data will cause the RBA any headaches. I certainly wouldn’t be getting overly bearish AUD based on the headline trade data at least. Coming on the back of yesterday’s retail trade numbers, at least the economic activity seems to be picking up.
