Economy of Australia
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| Economy of Australia | |
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| Currency | Australian Dollar ($A or A$, AU$ or $AU, AUD) |
|---|---|
| Fiscal year | 1 July - 30 June |
| Trade organisations | APEC, WTO and OECD |
| Statistics | |
| GDP (PPP) | around A$1 trillion (2007-2008) (17th) |
| GDP growth | 3.9% (2007-2008) long term average of about 4.4% [1] |
| GDP per capita | $32,900 (2006 est.) |
| GDP by sector | agriculture: 3.8% industry: 26.2% services: 70% (2005 est.) |
| Inflation (CPI) | 4.5% (Q4 2007/08) [2] |
| Population below poverty line |
NA% |
| Gini index | 30.5 (2000) [3] |
| Labour force | 10.66 million (2006 est.) |
| Labour force by occupation |
agriculture (3.6%), mining (1.1%), industry (20.2%), services (75.1%) (May 2005 est.) |
| Unemployment | 4.3% (July 2008) [4] |
| Main industries | mining, industrial and transportation equipment, food processing, chemicals, steel |
| External | |
| Exports | A$215.8 billion (2006-2007) [5] |
| Export goods | coal, gold, meat, wool, alumina, iron ore, wheat, machinery and transport equipment |
| Main export partners | Japan 20.3%, China 11.5%, South Korea 7.9%, US 6.7%, New Zealand 6.5%, India 5% (2005) |
| Imports | A$227.8 billion (2006-2007) [6] |
| Import goods | machinery and transport equipment, computers and office machines, telecommunication equipment and parts; crude oil and petroleum products |
| Main import partners | US 13.9%, China 13.7%, Japan 11%, Singapore 5.6%, Germany 5.6% (2005) |
| Public finances | |
| Public debt | $585.1 billion |
| Revenues | A$319.46 billion (2008-2009) |
| Expenses | A$292.47 billion (2008-2009) |
| Economic aid | donor: ODA, $2.5 billion (2005/06 Budget) [7] |
| Main data source: CIA World Factbook All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars |
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- Throughout this article, the unqualified term "dollar" and the $ symbol refer to the Australian dollar. However, figures in the sidebar are in US dollars.
The Economy of Australia is a prosperous, Western market economy dominated by its services sector (68% of GDP), although the agricultural and mining sectors (10% of GDP combined[1]) account for 57% of the nation's exports[2].
Rich in natural resources, Australia is a major exporter of agricultural products, particularly wheat and wool, minerals such as iron-ore and gold, and energy in the form of liqufied natural gas and coal. Although it occupies an area similar in size to the contiguous United States, it has a labour force of only about ten million people.[3]
In the past decade, one of the most significant sectoral trends experienced by the economy has been the growth (in relative terms) of the mining sector (including petroleum). In terms of contribution to GDP, this sector grew from around 4.5% in 1993-94, to almost 8% in 2006-07. Growth in the services sector has also grown considerably, with property and business services in particular growing from 10% to 14.5% of GDP over the same period, making it the largest single component of GDP (in sectoral terms). This growth has largely been at the expense of the manufacturing sector, which in 2006-07 accounted for around 12% of GDP. A decade earlier, it was the largest sector in the economy, accounting for just over 15% of GDP.[4]
Australia's emphasis on reforms is often cited as a key factor behind the continuing strength of the economy. In the 1980s, the Australian Labor Party, led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Treasurer Paul Keating, commenced the modernisation of the Australian economy by floating the Australian dollar in 1983, leading to full financial deregulation.
Current areas of concern to some economists include Australia's large current account deficit, Australia’s account deficit for the 2007- 2008 financial year was up 4% to $19.49 billion, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the absence of a successful export-oriented manufacturing industry, a real estate bubble, and high levels of net foreign debt owed by the private sector.
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[edit] History
[edit] Taxation
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This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (June 2007) |
As a federation, political power is spread between the Commonwealth and state governments. As a result, both the Commonwealth and the states have their own taxes. Taxes vary from state to state due to their different needs, populations, economics and budgetary positions. The Commonwealth is the main source of income for state governments, however. The Commonwealth's largest sources of revenue are income tax and business tax. As a result of state dependence on federal taxation revenue to meet decentralised expenditure responsibilities, Australia is said to suffer from a vertical fiscal imbalance.
[edit] State taxation
States also have their own taxes so that they can fund the services they offer. For obvious reasons, tax rates vary from state/territory to state/territory. Certain states and territories may not even levy certain taxes. State taxes commonly include a payroll tax, levied on businesses, a poker machine tax, levied on businesses who offer gambling services, a land tax, levied on people and businesses who own land and most significantly, stamp duty, levied on sales of land (in every state) and other items (chattels in some states, unlisted shares in others, and even sales of contracts in some states).
The states lost the right to levy income tax during WWII, as per the first Uniform Tax Case (South Australia v Commonwealth) of 1942. While the states retained the ability to operate taxation offices, the Commonwealth successfully argued that the combination of articles 51(ii) (Commonwealth powers) and 109 (Inconsistency of laws) meant that the Commonwealth could legislate to force states to levy or not levy taxes. This was upheld in the Ha vs. New South Wales case of 1987, and has led to one of the most pronounced vertical fiscal imbalances in the world, with states collecting just 18% of all governmental revenues but responsible for almost 50% of the spending and policy areas.
[edit] Municipal taxation
Local governments, or, as they are called in Australia, councils, have their own taxes so that they can provide rubbish collection, park maintenance services, libraries and museums, etc. This taxation is commonly referred to as "council rates".
[edit] Trade and economic performance
In the second half of the twentieth century, Australian trade shifted decisively away from Europe and North America to Japan and other East Asian markets.
Despite high global demand for Australian mineral commodities, export growth has remained flat in comparison to strong import growth. Even though Australia enjoys high commodity prices, economists have warned that structural change is needed in order to increase the size of manufacturing sector. The Australian economy has been performing nominally better than other economies of the OECD and has supported economic growth for 16 consecutive years.[5] According to the Reserve Bank of Australia, Australian per capita GDP growth is higher than that of New Zealand, US, Canada and The Netherlands.[6] The performance of the Australian economy is heavily dependent on US and Chinese economic growth.[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Macfarlane, I. J. (1998). "Australian Monetary Policy in the Last Quarter of the Twentieth Century". Reserve Bank of Australia Bulletin, October 1998 (Adobe Acrobat *.PDF document)
- Parham, Dean. (2002). "Microeconomic reforms and the revival in Australia’s growth in productivity and living standards". Assistant Commissioner - Productivity Commission, Canberra Conference of Economists Adelaide, 1 October, 2002 (Adobe Acrobat *.PDF document) - document not found
- Some statistics on this page have been drawn from publications of the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
- OCED Factbook 2006 (Gini coeffients) OCED Factbook 2006 pdf
[edit] External links
- Australia page @ Organisation for Economic Co-Operation & Development (OECD)
- Economic Survey of Australia @ OECD
- Monthly Economic and Social Indicators (Australian Parliamentary Library)
- Quick Reference Tables for the World Bank's 2005 data
- Harcourt, Tim. (2005). "Introducing the twenty five billion dollar man: how the LNG deal was won". Chief Economist - Australian Trade Commission - Sydney - 26 March 2003
- This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook (2005 edition) which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.
- - "Australian Country Information" @ the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade
- Invest in Australia
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/5204.0Main%20Features502006-07?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=5204.0&issue=2006-07&num=&view=
- ^ http://www.rba.gov.au/Statistics/Bulletin/H03hist.xls
- ^ http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/snapshot.html
- ^ http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/5204.0Main%20Features502006-07?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=5204.0&issue=2006-07&num=&view=
- ^ "Downwonder: The “lucky country” may not be so for too much longer" @ The Economist - Mar 29th 2007
- ^ "Australia in the Global Economy" by Malcolm Edey the Assistant Governor (Economic) - Address to the Australia & Japan Economic Outlook Conference 2007 - Sydney - 16 March 2007
- ^ "Booming Australian Economy"
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