Australian Economy in Leading Position?
May 26th, 2009 | Published in Economy
Although recent newspaper headlines might lead you to think otherwise, Australian and international businesspeople think Australia’s economy is best placed to survive the international financial crisis.
In this, they parallel the recently expressed thoughts of Glenn Stevens, Governor of Australia’s Reserve Bank.
Mr. Steven’s summarised his current view of Australia’s economy as follows:
1. Political stability remains assured – something becoming a bit less common.
2. The Government does not own, and has not had to give direct financial support to, the banking system. Australia will be free of the difficult governance and exit strategy issues that such support is raising in a number of countries.
3. Public finances remain in very sound shape, with modest debt levels and a medium-term path for the budget back towards balance.
4. Sensible policy frameworks – both macroeconomic and microeconomic – remain in place; the financial regulatory system is strong and tested.
5. Australia remains open for trade and investment.
6. There is an exposure to, and an engagement with, an Asian region that still has the most dynamic growth potential in the world, where hundreds of millions of people will for decades to come be seeking rising living standards.
There are rather few countries, said Mr. Stevens, which have the potential to offer so attractive a proposition to international capital.
Reflecting Mr. Steven’s views, 7,500 businesspeople from 24 countries were asked to identify which countries they believe are surviving the crisis the best. Australia headed the list, followed by China, India and Singapore.
Results were obtained from the Servcorp International Business Confidence Survey.
Countries best placed
to weather the financial crisis
| Ranking | Country |
| 1st | Australia |
| 2nd | China |
| 3rd equal | India, Singapore |
| 5th | Hong Kong |
| 6th | Canada |
| 7th equal | Japan, Qatar |
| 9th | New Zealand |
| 10th equal | Malaysia, Sweden, Vietnam |
| 13th equal | Netherlands, United States of America |
| 15th | Indonesia |
| 16th | South America |
| 17th | France |
| 18th equal | Belgium, England, Korea, South Africa |
| 22nd equal | Austria, Taiwan |
| 24th equal | Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Lebanon, Russia, United Arab Emirates |
| 30th equal | Brazil, Morocco, Philippines, Scotland, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand |
Countries best placed
to weather the financial crisis -
Votes only from Australian businesspeople
| Ranking | Country |
| 1st | Australia |
| 2nd | China |
| 3rd | Singapore |
| 4th | Hong Kong |
| 5th | South Africa |
| 6th equal | Canada, India, Qatar |
| 9th equal | Netherlands, Sweden |
| 11th equal | Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, South America |
| 16th equal | France, Morocco |
| 18th equal | Austria, Czech Republic, England, Ireland, Korea, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Syria, United States of America, Vietnam, Wales |
Particular Concerns of Australian Businesspeople
| Percentage | Concern |
| 36.1% | The low morale in the media |
| 25.3% | The way the Australian Government responded to the crisis |
| 25.3% | The low morale in the Australian business community |
| 24.1% | Concern the world economy is preventing Australian businesses from recovering quickly |
| 19.3% | Concern about the position of their trading partners |
| 15.7% | The failure of existing regulations and financial infrastructure |
* The survey was commissioned to understand the current mood, business morale and impact the economic downturn has had on businesses around the world. As part of the survey, Servcorp asked 7,500 international businesspeople from more than 24 nations to identify which countries they believe are surviving the crisis the best.
