Australian capital expenditure goes up

Sydney, Aug 30 (IANS) The rise in capital expenditure (capex) in the June quarter suggests that the mining boom in Australia will continue for the next few years, economists said Thursday.

New private capital expenditure rose 3.4 percent in the June quarter, data released Thursday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed.

The median market forecast was for a rise of 3.4 percent for the June quarter, reported Xinhua.

The ABS also released the third estimate of planned expenditure for 2012-13, which is 20.8 percent higher than the third estimate for 2011-12.

Investment bank JP Morgan Australia chief economist Stephen Walters said the solid gain in capital expenditure in the June quarter showed the mining boom was not over.

"The price side may be over given that iron ore and coal prices are going down but the volume side in the capex story and the export story is still to come," he told the Australian Associated Press.

"Firms are saying they are going to do about 180 billion AU dollars ($185.83 billion) worth of spending in the current fiscal year, so that's a lot of spending."