Recently, at the 6th National Housing Conference, 2009, held in Melbourne on November 25, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has reported some positive forecasts for the Australian economy in the coming years! Mr. Ric Battellino, the Deputy Governor of RBA said in his speech that the coming years hold good things for the Australia in terms of economic growth.

A few highlights of the Deputy governor’s speech are:

• The Australian economy is going to retain the new growth for more years to come.
• There will be expansions in mining sector, including investment for the next five years. Reportedly, the mining has already been in its record levels, which is going to rise even more in said the period.
• There will be improvements in Australia’s exports sector as a result of growth in its Asian trading partners.
• There will be a rising demand for labor, as population is likely to grow in a rapid pace.
• There will be moderation in inflation as a result of slowdown in labor costs.
• There will also be an increase in household incomes.

RBA also forecast that Australia would experience a growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 1.75 percent over 2009 and by 3.25 percent by December 2010. However, earlier the central bank predicted that the nation’s GDP would grow 0.5 percent in 2009, and 2.25 percent over 2010. The revision to the previous statement is quite satisfying!

The bank reported that Australia’s labor market had seen quite an improvement over the last three months. Now, it hopes to see the market gaining jobs in its usual pace in the coming year. Reports say the nation’s unemployment rate plummeted to 5.7 percent in September this year.

It is interesting and appreciable that Australia is the only economy that had not been affected by the global financial meltdown!