Investor Update: August 2010 International Data Comparison (IDC)

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August 2010 International Data Comparison (IDC)

27 August 2010

Download Austrade’s August 2010 International Data Comparisons (PDF). It is an easy-to-read comparison of Australia’s performance and position across key economic and financial related indicators. The IDC has been updated to include data effective to 20 August, 2010.

Points of interest include:

In the July 2010 Update of World Economic Outlook, the IMF has forecast that the Australian economy will grow by 3.0 per cent in 2010 and 3.5 per cent in 2011, giving it a brighter outlook than that of the advanced economies as a whole. A sound macroeconomic framework, a healthy banking sector, rigorous regulatory environment, flexible exchange rate and sustained demand from China for Australian commodities helped to avoid the worst of the financial turbulence that other economies experienced.
The Australian economy has recorded 19 years of uninterrupted growth to 2010, despite two global downturns. The 2010 Institute for Management Development (IMD) World Competitiveness Yearbook rated Australia’s economy the second most resilient in the world. For countries with populations greater than 20 million, Australia ranked first in 2009 and 2010, and has topped this category in eight of the previous nine years.
Australia’s unemployed rate has eased to just over 5 per cent after peaking at 5.8 per cent in the middle of 2009. Australia’s latest unemployed rate is almost half that of the Euro area and the United States. Over the past year, employment in Australia rose by a strong 300,000.
Australia’s annual export value of goods and services in US dollar terms fell 5.9 per cent to US$217 billion in 2009-10. Nevertheless, Australia has experienced strong export growth for 16 of the last 20 years, and export value has increased by a compound annual growth rate of around 8 per cent. The overall growth in the country’s external sector can be attributed to the on-going economic reforms, Australia’s strong competitiveness, continued trade openness, and diversified export markets.
On August 3 , the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) left interest rates unchanged for a third consecutive month. The RBA stated “The current setting of monetary policy is resulting in interest rates to borrowers around their average levels of the past decade. With growth likely to be close to trend, inflation close to target and the global outlook remaining somewhat uncertain, the Board judged this setting of monetary policy to be appropriate.” The RBA kept the overnight cash rate target at 4.5 per cent.
With 2,050 listed companies, the Australian stock market is currently the largest liquid stock market in the Asia-Pacific ex-Japan at US$936 billion. The market capitalisation of floating stocks in Australia is more than double that of Hong Kong (US$361 billion) and more than four times larger than that of Singapore. Australia’s strong, liquid, transparent and efficient stock market further strengthens the country’s position as a leading financial services centre.
Australia has US$1.4 trillion debt securities outstanding – the region’s second largest amount (ex Japan), and is a regional leader in the issuance of both international and domestic debt securities.
Australia is one of the world’s most tech-savvy countries, with one of the fastest take-ups of new technology. Australia was ranked one of the top ten in the world in the Economist Intelligence Unit Digital Economy Rankings 2010. Australia is a sophisticated market where ICT companies can successfully develop solutions with global applicability. The country is also the source of a number of distinctive technologies – especially in the areas of e-finance, e-health, and e-government.
Australia ranks the second highest out of 179 countries in the e-Government Participation Index. The United Nations 2010 Survey found that Australians now benefit from more advanced e-service delivery, better access to information, more efficient government management and improved interactions with governments, primarily as a result of increasing use by the public sector of information and communications technology.