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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jorj X Mckie who wrote (94953)	11/9/2010 5:50:46 AM
From: tonto	1 Recommendation Respond to of 224862

Australia Lifts Growth Forecast, Sees Budget Surplus Published: Monday, 8 Nov 2010 \| 10:30 PM ET Australia lifted its growth forecast as Asia's insatiable appetite for its natural resources continues to drive the economy, but cut spending to keep the budget on course for a small surplus by 2012/13. GDP growth is seen at 3.25 percent in the year ending June 30, 2011, up from a previous 3.0 percent projection but spending would be cut by A$3.5 billion ($3.5 billion) over four years to ensure a surplus of A$3.1 billion or 0.2 percent of GDP in 2012/13, Treasurer Wayne Swan said on Tuesday. Australian Flag "This update shows Australia's economy and budget in a far superior position to just about any major advanced economy, many of whom are still grappling with stubbornly high rates of unemployment, sluggish private demand, and high sovereign debt levels," Swan said after a mid-year budget update. Spending has to be cut as the high Australian dollar is eating into export revenues, cutting budget income by around A$10 billion over four years. The Australian dollar [AUD=X 1.0158 0.0032 (+0.32%) ] is trading near 28-year highs against its U.S. counterpart and the new forecasts are based on the Aussie at $0.985, compared to the previous forecasts based on $0.85. The government also cut its unemployment forecast, to 4.75 percent for the year, from a previous 5 percent estimate. Swan said Australia's net debt was expected to peak at 6.4 percent of GDP in 2011/12 well below levels of 60-80 percent in key developed nations. "This will leave Australia in a substantially stronger fiscal position than any of the major advanced economies," Swan said. RELATED LINKS Current DateTime: 01:01:57 09 Nov 2010 LinksList Documentid: 40080678 * Australia Job Ads Rise for 6th Straight Month in October * Australia Creating 'Perfect Storm' With Rate Hike * What's Behind Australia's Big Bank Bash