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AUATRALIA ...may escape recession
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by Maireid Sullivan | February 22, 2009 at 04:35 pm
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ANZ (Australia New Zealand bank) boss says Aust. may escape recession, shows new optimism
ANZ Banking Group Ltd boss Mike Smith says Australia may escape a technical recession and he has new optimism about the country's ability to ride through the global financial crisis.
"Although I have said there will be a severe slowdown in Australia, I am less pessimistic than many, and I believe there is cause for optimism that the downturn in Australia may not be as deep and protracted as many now fear," Mr Smith told an American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) lunch in Sydney.
Mr Smith also said he believed pessimism about China was "overdone."
Mr Smith said it was hard to understand the true depth of the crisis from Australia, and the prospects for the world economy in 2009 were bleak, with the world's most sophisticated economists likely to experience the first annual contraction in economic activity since the Second World War.
"2008 was an extraordinary year for the whole world, but in some ways Australia has been insulated from the full impact of what has been happening," he said.
He said growth in emerging economies was expected to slow more sharply than seemed likely two or three months ago, probably by about 3.5 per cent on average.
"While Australia is better positioned and has been remarkably resilient so far, it has not given us immunity - nor will it this year," Mr Smith said.
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at 04:21 on February 25th, 2009
Ive lived in London - England and at present Perth -Australia . I think part of the reason things are not so bad here is because the Australian banks never defautled like other western banks , but properties here in Perth are still more highly priced than what they should be. I hear Sydney and Melbourne have dropped alot , but then they are old cities that have had the guts ripped out of them like London .Will there be correcteions in Western Australia like the falls in UK and USA nobody knows at the moment, people say we will see what happens after the first time buyers grant is reduced at the end of june which holds up the bottom end of the market and also after the tax year has ended, jobs have been lost in the mining areas due too resources boom drying up , but only the extra workers that were taken on during the boom have been laid off . They say mines are closing and iron ore is a third of the price , how about gold its worth more than ever - Kalgoorlie is a having second gold rush at the moment, i dont anyone that has lost their job and my family over in Queensland say they dont know anyone either, they are confident and are onto building their fourth house. I speak to family and friends in england and things do seem to be bad , but then England is a service and financial sector country thats has no back bone like Australia does with exports , They say England is a rich country , i think maybe the british companies like Bp and others that have investments in projects in Australia etc are okay with money but the likes of English working people are hit the most , also the influx of europeans has an affect on the job market. Also alot of americans have lost their jobs , but then how many american factories were actually set up in China , so they could make products cheaper , look what that has done to their fellow country men. My dad reckons no one country can stand on its own and not need other countries to survive we are all linked and when one goes down they others go like dominoes. We will see what happens in the next year here and if Australia doesnt downturn like some of the others i will very surprised.
The old saying goes '' what goes up must goes down ''