• Overview
• Overseas trade index corrections
• Balance of payments annual revisions
• Software investment correction
• Other revisions
• Revisions table

Overview

We incorporated several revisions in this release. The revisions are usually driven by new or improved data that affect historical results, or changes to the underlying measure – in both cases we aim to better represent the real-life situation of a changing society, economy, and environment.

The key revisions are discussed below.

Overseas trade index corrections

The overseas trade index (OTI) deflator for exports of forestry products was revised for the March 2017 quarter. This was due to a correction in the provisional price.

The OTI deflator for imports of consumer durables was revised for the September and December 2016 quarters. This was due to correcting a process error.

There were also several smaller revisions to the OTI deflators for exports and imports for the March 2017 quarter. This is due to the usual process of receiving and editing late and amended trade documentation. The OTIs are provisional for one quarter to allow for this.

These corrections and revisions affected exports and imports in the expenditure measure of GDP, as well as total gross domestic expenditure. The revision to exports of forestry products for the March 2017 quarter revised the expenditure measure of GDP up by about 0.1 percent.

See Overseas Trade Indexes (Prices and Volumes): June 2017 quarter (provisional) for more information on the OTI revisions.

Balance of payments annual revisions

We incorporated balance of payments annual revisions this quarter. These revisions mostly applied to the expenditure measure of GDP (GDE), in particular exports and imports of services, and household consumption expenditure. The revisions had minimal impact at total GDE level.

These revisions are normal practice in June quarters, and ensure that we are in line with international best practice.

See Preview of 2017 revisions to balance of payments and national accounts for more information.

Software investment correction

We revised nominal investment in intangibles for the March 2017 quarter due to a processing error. The correction also affects nominal aggregates within gross fixed capital formation and total GDE. Due to the nature of the error, there is no impact on real investment in intangibles or any aggregates.

Other revisions

We made other revisions due to updated source data. Doing this as updates become available is a normal procedure, as it better reflects what is going on in the economy.

Other revisions to the production measure of GDP

• Public administration, safety, and defence revised due to updated data from Local Authority Statistics: June 2017 quarter – tables.
• We received updated respondent information and other source data, which caused revisions to agriculture, forestry and fishing; manufacturing; electricity, gas, water and waste services; construction; telecommunications; finance and insurance; and rental, hiring, and real-estate services.

Other revisions to the expenditure measure of GDP

• Gross fixed capital formation revised due to updated 'other construction' data; updated overseas trade data; and updated transfer costs data.
• Household consumption expenditure revised due to updated telecommunications data.
• Imports and exports revised due to updated overseas merchandise trade data.
• Local government final consumption expenditure revised due to updated data from Local Authority Statistics: June 2017 quarter – tables.

Revisions table

The following table shows the previously published and revised quarterly movements for the March 2017 quarter GDP and expenditure on GDP (GDE).