Australia

Aboriginal settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia about 40,000 years before the first Europeans began exploration in the 17th century. No formal territorial claims were made until 1770, when Capt. James COOK took possession in the name of Great Britain. Six colonies were created in the late 18th and 19th centuries; they federated and became the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The new country took advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II. In recent decades, Australia has transformed itself into an internationally competitive, advanced market economy. It boasted one of the OECD's fastest growing economies during the 1990s, a performance due in large part to economic reforms adopted in the 1980s. Long-term concerns include climate-change issues such as the depletion of the ozone layer and more frequent droughts, and management and conservation of coastal areas, especially the Great Barrier Reef.

Economical characteristics

• Currency: Australian dollar (ISO code: AUD)
• Central bank discount rate: 4% (31 March 2010)
• Commercial banks lending rate: 6.02% (31 December 2009 )
• Stock of money (M1): $248.5 billion (31 December 2008)
• Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $617 billion (31 December 2008)

Statistics

Statistic / Year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
GDP (million USD)	380 849	405 111	369 895	384 949	455 256	598 486	674 817	724 359	820 974	1 015 220
Govt. debt (% of GDP)	29.946	28.384	26.312	24.388	23.462	21.580	21.196	20.478	19.420
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)	24.188	24.885	25.937	25.082	25.373	25.525	25.808	25.753	25.382
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)	23.619	23.102	25.268	25.518	24.613	24.660	24.586	23.952	23.624
Debt to revenue (years)	1.238	1.141	1.014	0.972	0.925	0.845	0.821	0.795	0.765

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

External links

• Australia on Wikipedia
• Central bank of Australia
• BBC country profile