The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators for Australia rose for the seventh consecutive month in August, the most recent month for which data are available. Including August's two-tenths percent increase, the index now stands at 159.8 (1990=100).
During the second quarter of this year, Australia's inflation-adjusted GDP growth increased to an annual rate of 5.2%, and "the improvement in the leading index since the beginning of 2005 suggests that economic growth is likely to continue in the near term," says the Conference Board, a New York-based business research group.
