Ahead of the latest GDP figures to be released on Wednesday has come a range of economic data suggesting that from sales to investment to productivity the fundamentals of the economy are in a pretty bad state of affairs.
When faced with weak economic growth, the government’s response has been to argue about “the fundamentals” and use the words of the governor of the RBA in July that they “are strong”.
The prime minister suggested three times in September that the fundamentals are strong. The treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has watered it down a little of late, telling Ross Greenwood on Melbourne Cup day that “the fundamentals of the economy are sound” and Steve Price on 20 November that the fundamentals are “in a pretty good place”.
All in all you would think things are going along swimmingly.
So let’s have a look at some of the fundamentals.
On Monday the latest Commonwealth Bank manufacturing purchases mangers index (PMI) was released showing the index fell from 50.0 in October to 49.9 – the first time in the past three years it has fallen below 50.
This came off the back of the latest private new capital expenditure figures released by the bureau of statistics late last week which revealed that for the first time in three and half years the volume of investment in the non-mining sector was below what it was a year earlier:
Read More: https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2019/dec/03/when-you-get-right-down-to-the-fundamentals-the-economy-is-looking-pretty-crook