Westpac note that "the Australian.........>

AUSTRALIA: Westpac note that "the Australian economy was revealed to be much

stronger than we had been led to believe (in the June quarter GDP report). Real

GDP expanded by a solid 0.9% in the June quarter and annual growth printed 3.4%

- well above potential of around 2.75%. Markets were expecting annual growth of

around 2.8% with most of the lift being attributed to revisions of earlier

quarters. These accounts have prompted a review of our growth outlook. We have

lifted our growth forecast for 2018 from 2.7% to 3.3%. The growth forecast for

2019 has been lifted from 2.5% to 2.7% and the 2020 forecast has increased from

2.8% to 3.0%. While the levels of the growth forecasts have been lifted, the

profile of an economy that will slow into 2019 and lift modestly in 2020

remains. Furthermore, these growth rates (following 2.4% in 2017) are

insufficient to make any meaningful impact on the spare capacity in the economy

and therefore our inflation and wages forecasts remain essentially unchanged."