Australia’s capital expenditure (capex) slump appears to have come to an end. Investment by the mining sector increased as a proportion of GDP for the first time since June 2014.
According to the latest ABS figures, seasonally-adjusted capex in the March quarter grew by 0.4%, up from the -0.2% rate recorded in the December quarter but lower than the 1% increase which was expected. On a year-on-year basis, the rate of capex growth slipped back to 3.7% after recording 4.2% in the December quarter.