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8 Business View Australia - April 2015
The economy
The Australian economy is highly developed with a
GDP of over US$1.5 trillion and a per capita GDP of
US$67,000 making it’s people one of the wealthiest
in the world. Unsurprisingly, much of the initial impe-
tus to the economy was provided by the mining sec-
tor with companies like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto
establishing themselves as the largest corporates in
the country.
For the last 20 years the economy grew by an aver-
Australian Business
Overview
age of over 3% per year on the back of demand for
resources, especially from China and Asia. Rising
commodity prices helped fuel the consistent growth
in the economy. In this period a healthy and vibrant
service sector gradually increased its presence and
is now a major contributor to the economy with a
whopping 67% of GDP and 75% of jobs.
However, the crash in commodity prices over the
last nine months will certainly have a negative effect
on the economy. Both oil and iron ore prices have
dropped precipitously with massive implications for