Australia Economy

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd once described Australia to be a nation whose origins lie firmly in the west, “but whose geo-political and geo-economic circumstances are shaped in large part by our location in the east… this is the inescapable expression of the Australian condition.”

Today, Australia’s economy has truly reflected this “condition”. Prior to the 1970s much of Australia’s trade was held with the European and North American markets. During this period, Australia was also considered as a relatively closed and protectionist economy. However, as key economic reforms were gradually being introduced by the Australian government, the Australian economy also started to turn their attention away from trade with the Western markets to trade within the Asia Pacific region.
This shift has turned Australia into one of the fastest growing advanced economies in the world. Australia is the 13^th largest economy in the world according to nominal GDP (current prices) and the 17^th largest according to GDP (PPP). In 2010, Australia’s GDP (PPP) was US$882.344 billion – a 3.94 percent increase from 2009. Australia’s nominal GDP (current prices, US dollars) growth during the same period was even more amazing – GDP (current prices, US dollars) grew from US$994.25 billion in 2009 to US$1.219 trillion, a 22.68 percent increase.

In the past two decades, Australia has enjoyed a period of uninterrupted economic growth – an average of 3.3 percent in real GDP growth annually. Australia possesses a well-diversified economy boosted by the strength of its services and resources industries.