The Liberal-National Government has today welcomed new data showing Australia’s services exports reached a record $88.0 billion in 2017-18.
Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham welcomed the new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics that showed services exports rose 7 per cent in 2017-18 up from $82.3 billion in the previous year.
“We’re currently experiencing a services boom in Australia with services exports rising by over 50 per cent over the last five years,” Minister Birmingham said.
“Our services industries whether it be education, telecommunications or professional and financial services continue to enjoy strong growth and this is good news for the thousands of small businesses across Australia who operate within these sectors.
“It’s vital we continue to provide more opportunities for our services exporters to secure new market access so they can continue to grow their businesses as this further boosts our economy and creates more jobs.”
China remained Australia’s largest services export market, valued at $16.9 billion, an increase of 17 per cent on 2016-17, whilst our second largest market continues to be the US with services exports increasing 9.4 per cent to $9.2 billion.
Telecommunications exports rose 25.2 per cent to $4.2 billion, education exports increased 15.5 per cent to $32.4 billion, and financial services rose 15.5 per cent to $4.6 billion.
“Our education and tourism sectors continue to go from strength-to-strength, but what’s positive is the growth in other sectors including financial services and telecommunications,” Minister Birmingham said.
“Over the past five years under the Liberal-National Government our total trade covered by agreements has skyrocketed from 26 per cent to 77 per cent, and there will be even more opportunities for our services exporters with the TPP-11 due to come into effect on 30 December.
“Our record is in stark contrast to Labor who failed to start and conclude a free trade agreement whilst they were in government.”