The current account deficit, seasonally adjusted, fell $403m (11%) to $3,108m in the March quarter 2017. There was an increase of $3,129m (51%) on the balance on goods and services, resulting in a surplus of $9,242m in the March quarter 2017. The primary income deficit rose $2,712m (29%) to $11,940m.

In seasonally adjusted chain volume terms, the surplus on goods and services fell $2,966m (85%) from $3,509m in the December quarter 2016 to $543m in the March quarter 2017. This is expected to detract 0.7 percentage points from growth in the March quarter 2017 volume measure of GDP.

Australia's net IIP liability position was $1,025.5b at 31 March 2017, a decrease of $2.7b on the revised 31 December 2016 position of $1,028.2b. Australia's net foreign debt liability decreased $13.6b (1%) to $1,015.0b. Australia's net foreign equity had a turnaround of $10.9b from a net asset position of $0.3b at 31 December 2016 to a net liability position of $10.6b at 31 March 2017.