Private Sector Credit in Australia

Measures the change in the outstanding stock of credit extended by banks and financial institutions to Australian households and businesses. It is published by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

Taken from the RBA's monthly Financial Aggregates release, the Credit column (total excluding financial businesses), expressed as the monthly and year-on-year change in the outstanding stock.

It gauges the credit impulse of the Australian economy: accelerations foreshadow stronger consumption, investment and housing activity, while slowdowns point to cooling. The RBA watches it as a sign of how its rate settings are feeding through.

It is subject to revisions and does not separate housing credit from business credit within the aggregate; the market reaction tends to be muted relative to other Australian data.