| Economy | Australia |
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Economy - overview:
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Australia's abundant and diverse natural resources attract high levels of foreign investment and include extensive reserves of coal, iron ore, copper, gold, natural gas, uranium, and renewable energy sources. A series of major investments, such as the US$40 billion Gorgon Liquid Natural Gas project, will significantly expand the resources sector. Australia also has a large services sector and is a significant exporter of natural resources, energy, and food. Key tenets of Australia's trade policy include support for open trade and the successful culmination of the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations, particularly for agriculture and services. The Australian economy grew for 17 consecutive years before the global financial crisis. Subsequently, the former RUDD government introduced a fiscal stimulus package worth over US$50 billion to offset the effect of the slowing world economy, while the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates to historic lows. These policies - and continued demand for commodities, especially from China - helped the Australian economy rebound after just one quarter of negative growth. The economy grew by 1.3% during 2009 - the best performance in the OECD - by 2.7% in 2010, and by 3.0% in 2011. Unemployment, originally expected to reach 8-10%, peaked at 5.7% in late 2009 and fell to 5.0% in 2011. As a result of an improved economy, the budget deficit is expected to peak below 4.2% of GDP and the government could return to budget surpluses as early as 2015. Australia was one of the first advanced economies to raise interest rates, with seven rate hikes between October 2009 and November 2010. The GILLARD government is focused on raising Australia's economic productivity to ensure the sustainability of growth, and continues to manage the symbiotic, but sometimes tense, economic relationship with China. Australia is engaged in the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks and ongoing free trade agreement negotiations with China, Japan, and Korea. |
GDP (purchasing power parity):
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$917.7 billion (2011 est.)
$901.5 billion (2010 est.)
$877.9 billion (2009 est.)
note: data are in 2011 US dollars |
GDP - per capita (PPP):
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$40,800 (2011 est.)
$40,600 (2010 est.)
$40,000 (2009 est.)
note: data are in 2011 US dollars |
GDP (official exchange rate):
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$1.507 trillion (2011 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate:
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1.8% (2011 est.)
2.7% (2010 est.)
1.4% (2009 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector:
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agriculture: 4%
industry: 25.6%
services: 70.4% (2011 est.) |
Investment (gross fixed):
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27.4% of GDP (2011 est.) |
Population below poverty line:
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NA% |
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
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lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 25.4% (1994) |
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
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30.5 (2006)
35.2 (1994) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
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3.4% (2011 est.)
2.8% (2010 est.) |
Central bank discount rate:
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4.35% (31 December 2010 est.)
3.28% (31 December 2009 est.)
note: this is the Reserve Bank of Australia's "cash rate target," or policy rate |
Commercial bank prime lending rate:
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7.8% (31 December 2011 est.)
7.279% (31 December 2010 est.) |
Stock of money:
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$248.5 billion (31 December 2008)
$298.5 billion (31 December 2007) |
Stock of money - per capita:
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11,417 USD per capita |
Stock of quasi money:
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$617 billion (31 December 2008)
$667.2 billion (31 December 2007) |
Stock of quasi money - per capita:
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28,347 USD per capita |
Stock of domestic credit:
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$2.065 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)
$1.927 trillion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Stock of domestic credit - per capita:
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94,870 USD per capita |
Stock of narrow money:
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$451.9 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$421.8 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Stock of broad money:
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$1.533 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)
$1.392 trillion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Labor force:
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12.02 million (2011 est.) |
Labor force participation rate:
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55.22 % of population |
Labor force - by occupation:
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agriculture: 3.6%
industry: 21.1%
services: 75% (2009 est.) |
Unemployment rate:
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5% (2011 est.)
5.2% (2010 est.) |
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24:
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total: 11.6%
male: 12.6%
female: 10.4% (2009) |
Budget:
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revenues: $468.3 billion
expenditures: $506.1 billion (2011 est.) |
Budget revenues per capita:
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21,515 USD per capita |
Taxes and other revenues:
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31.1% of GDP (2011 est.) |
Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-):
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-2.5% of GDP (2011 est.) |
Public debt:
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30.3% of GDP (2011 est.)
28.8% of GDP (2010 est.) |
Industries:
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mining, industrial and transportation equipment, food processing, chemicals, steel |
Industrial production growth rate:
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2% (2011 est.) |
Electricity - production:
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232 billion kWh (2009 est.) |
Electricity - production per capita:
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10,659 kWh per capita |
Electricity - consumption:
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225.4 billion kWh (2008 est.) |
Electricity - consumption - per capita:
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10,356 kWh per capita |
Electricity - exports:
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0 kWh (2009 est.) |
Electricity - imports:
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0 kWh (2009 est.) |
Oil - production:
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549,200 bbl/day (2010 est.) |
Oil - production per capita:
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25,232 bbl/day per capita |
Oil - consumption:
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960,800 bbl/day (2010 est.) |
Oil - consumption - per capita:
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16.11 bbl/year per capita |
Oil - exports:
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312,600 bbl/day (2009 est.) |
Oil - imports:
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731,400 bbl/day (2009 est.) |
Oil - proved reserves:
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3.318 billion bbl (1 January 2011 est.) |
Natural gas - production:
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45.11 billion cu m (2010 est.) |
Natural gas - production per capita:
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2,073 cu m per capita |
Natural gas - consumption:
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26.41 billion cu m (2010 est.) |
Natural gas - consumption - per capita:
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1,214 cu m per capita |
Natural gas - exports:
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24.7 billion cu m (2010 est.) |
Natural gas - imports:
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5.99 billion cu m (2010 est.) |
Natural gas - proved reserves:
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3.115 trillion cu m (1 January 2011 est.) |
Agriculture - products:
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wheat, barley, sugarcane, fruits; cattle, sheep, poultry |
Current account balance:
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-$30.7 billion (2011 est.)
-$31.99 billion (2010 est.) |
Current account balance - per capita:
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-1,410 USD per capita |
Exports:
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$266 billion (2011 est.)
$212.9 billion (2010 est.) |
Exports per capita:
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12,221 USD per capita |
Exports - commodities:
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coal, iron ore, gold, meat, wool, alumina, wheat, machinery and transport equipment |
Exports - partners:
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China 25.1%, Japan 18.9%, South Korea 8.9%, India 7.1%, US 4% (2010) |
Imports:
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$236.3 billion (2011 est.)
$194.7 billion (2010 est.) |
Imports per capita:
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10,857 USD per capita |
Imports - commodities:
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machinery and transport equipment, computers and office machines, telecommunication equipment and parts; crude oil and petroleum products |
Imports - partners:
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China 18.7%, US 11.1%, Japan 8.7%, Thailand 5.2%, Singapore 5.1%, Germany 5%, Malaysia 4.3% (2010) |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
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$43.3 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$42.27 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold - per capita:
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1,990 USD per capita |
Debt - external:
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$1.377 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)
$1.265 trillion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Debt - external - per capita:
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63,262 USD per capita |
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
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$548.5 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$514.4 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home - per capita:
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25,200 USD per capita |
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
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$443.4 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$400.7 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad - per capita:
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20,371 USD per capita |
Market value of publicly traded shares:
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$1.455 trillion (31 December 2010)
$1.258 trillion (31 December 2009)
$675.6 billion (31 December 2008) |
Market value of publicly traded shares - per capita:
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66,846 USD per capita |
Currency (code):
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Australian dollar (AUD) |
Exchange rates:
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Australian dollars (AUD) per US dollar -
0.9694 (2011 est.)
1.0902 (2010)
1.2822 (2009)
1.2059 (2008)
1.2137 (2007) |
Fiscal year:
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1 July - 30 June |
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