THE INTERNATIONAL economy should present no cause for alarm in the near term according to the Secretary of the Australian Treasury John Fraser.
Speaking at the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) grains group annual conference in Horsham this week, Mr Fraser said China was the big piece in the puzzle for Australia that everyone was monitoring.
Pleasingly, he said he was upbeat about the economic prospects of the Asian powerhouse.
“I am pretty bullish on China. I know there is some disquiet about gross domestic product (GDP) numbers, but this is a country that puts its numbers out about fortnight after the quarter, I don’t put too much weight on those numbers.
“Instead you can look at the orders for steel and iron ore and the data from their housing market and you don’t need to lie in bed worrying about the state of China.”
He said there was a flow-on benefit apart from the direct trade for Australian agriculture.
“You look at Indonesia and Jakarta is fairly dependent on China so a strong China also leads to a stronger Indonesia which is good news for you grain producers.”
Domestically, Mr Fraser said he was pleased with how the Australian economy was transitioning from the mining boom.
“Australia has probably done better than expected from the mining boom to where we are now, we have probably had a little bit of luck, but it is an indication that we now have a more flexible, service driven economy.”
“The growth has definitely been in that services sector, but I think we are in reasonably good shape to hold out until the next resources boom.”