Australia: not spared but prepared to manage the worst
Special Author: Rod Eddington, CEO, J P Morgan Australia and Chair Designate ANZ Bank
Australia began 2008 hoping that the growing global financial crisis might pass it by. Our major trading partners in Asia were in better shape than their American and European counterparts and our underlying economy was sound. All this is still broadly true, but it is clear that the Asian economies in general and the Chinese economy in particular are not as ‘decoupled’ from the global economy as many thought. Australia has not been spared from many of the economic challenges other nations face as its Asian partners struggle with problems of their own.
The new Australian Federal Government under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has worked hard at home and abroad to lessen the economic fallout following the global financial crisis. The Australian economy has slowed significantly and this foreshadows increasing unemployment in 2009. Keeping that increase as small as possible is a priority for businesses and governments alike.