WSJ reports:
Australia's A$1.1 trillion economy grew in the first quarter of 2009, defying a capitulation in global trade and crunched confidence, and for now sidestepping a technical recession.
Australia's economic slowdown so far appears mild compared with other developed economies but any jubilation is set to be brief as Australia's quarter of growth hinged almost entirely on a positive shift in the country's trade accounts, offsetting a massive slump in business investment and profits, with a terms of trade plunge set to weigh heavily on the economy through 2009.
The average measure of gross domestic product rose 0.4% in the first quarter of 2009 from the fourth quarter of 2008 and rose 0.4% from a year earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.
Source: ABS.GOV.AU
Raw material exports to China?
ReplyDeletethe combination of a sizable drop in imports and an increase in exports (my guess is to china) = increase in net exports was indeed the biggest driver...
ReplyDeleteI really hope that Chinese domestic demand story is for real. It appears as though the world is counting, or at the very least praying, on it.
ReplyDeleteLOL, it'll all go South down under and in China soon enough.
ReplyDeleteThere are like 30 million unemployed Chinese in rural areas alone and the state controlled banks went on a crazy lending spree recently, did no one tell them about credit bubbles and busts?
We live in a reality bubble at this point, the green shoots are wilting and very soon the greatest depression will be evident across the world.
The Aussie Trade figures for April are heading south at a great rate of knots, a -91m balance for April Vs +2302m for March.The begining of the end?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/ProductsbyCatalogue/A5FB33BD2E3CC68FCA257496001547A1?OpenDocument