Contemporary Economic Statistics

U3A1

One example of a government intervention in markets that unintentionally leads to a decrease in one
of allocative, productive, dynamic or intertemporal efficiency

Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) tarrif exemption to encourage people to buy EV cars.

• if employers provide EV cars to employees, employers don’t have to pay a FBT, making it cheaper and more attractive for other companies where resources allocated towards EV’s can take away resources allocated to other industries

U3A2

Strong and Sustainable Economic Growth

2.5% economic growth over past 2 years

• it’s weak because of weak household consumption; high cost of living prices

Overseas growth affecting AD

Chinese growth slowed down in June 2026, meaning there’s less demand for Chinese exports and imports, meaning AD lowers

Productivity

Australia’s productivity has fallen 0.6% over the past 2 years meaning there’s less AS

Full Employment

In June 2026, Australia’s unemployment rate was 4.4% meaning it’s achieving its goal because of job demand remaining high

Low and Stable Inflation

Australia’s inflation’s at 3.6%, not achieving the goal because of high housing and food and alcoholic beverage costs

Terms of Trade

Australia’s terms of trade has fallen 1.6% in the first quarter of the year due to prices of fuel rising (imports) rising higher than iron ores (exports)

U3A3

Net Foreign Debt

Australia’s increased to $1.432 trillion because of increased borrowing from overseas investors

Net Foreign Equity

Australia’s is $847.1 billion due to overseas assets growing

Exchange Rate

AUD’s depreciated 1.2% since May because of lower commodity and iron ore prices

U4A1

Monetary Policy Stance

Contractionary

2026-7 Budget

$31.5 billion deficit because of increased government spending

Discretionary Stabiliser

2026-7 tax cuts. People earning between $18 000 and $45 000 gets taxes reduced 15%

U4A2

Training and Education

National Skills Agreement. Free Tafe

Skilled Immigration

$85.2 million spent on migrated workers to accelerate skills

Market Based Environmental Policy

Safeguard Mechanism. If businesses pollute too much, they get charged