Australia is a country with a historically prosperous and stable western style economy with a GDP per capita income on par with those of France, Germany and the UK. Australia is an industrial nation with a mixed economy that has grown similarly to other countries of the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OEDC). The country’s wealth was traditionally derived off the back of agriculture and whilst this industry has continued to remain important and be a witness to both growth and diversification, the nation’s manufacturing, minerals and services sectors have all since grown in size and value with the services sector remaining the fastest growing sector in Australia’s economy. In fact, the Australian economy is now dominated by its growing services sector with this accounting for ~70% of GDP. In the export industry, the agricultural and mining sectors account for 10% of overall GDP and collectively represent ~60% of the country’s overall exports. Australian property, tourism, finance and business services are now bringing in large investments too with this coming from both local and overseas sources.

One of the main aims of the Australian government is to shape the country in to a primary producer and exporter on the global scale. To achieve this, the government has designed and executed a series of economic reforms that largely concentrate on the labour market, union involvement, deregulation of industries and privatisation of monopolies. The Australian economy is influenced by the neighbouring economies immediately to its north including those of China and the so-called Tiger economies, which include Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Their influence has brought about much in the form of making the export industry the nation’s economic growth leader and by delivering a short to medium economic outlook of continued economic reform and stable expansion.

Coinciding with the widespread introduction of advanced technology, Australia ranks among the current world leaders in arenas such as micro-electronics, telecommunications, fibre optics, medical equipment and scientific applications. The country enjoys a relatively prosperous domestic market with home, vehicle and personal computer ownership amongthe highest in the world. Prime office space and telecommunication costs are also among the lowest-priced in the developed region. Australia is recognised as an important leading financial centre in the Australia-Pacific (APAC) region with its stock exchange (ASX) second only to that of Japan. However, its financial futures exchange remains the largest in the APAC region. The country’s strong economic ties with neighbouring markets of the APAC region has increasingly brought with it a broader range of financial services to offer people doing business in the region. The nation’s official currency is the Australian dollar (AUD), which is a free floating currency.