The keynote speaker was Julianne Christie, the Senior Policy Advisor – Economic Development at Fairfield City Council.
Julianne’s Economic State Of Play presentation had the audience enthralled as she looked at Australia’s domestic economy, global economies and the effects they will have on us.
Based on her research, she said that the Australian economy is unlikely to exceed 4% growth and our ASX will remain relatively flat. The United Kingdom’s decision to leave or remain with the EU will have an impact on the strength of the Aussie dollar.
The best global performer at the moment is Japan which has loans with zero percent interest. The US economy is resilient as is the greater Asian region.
Within this, China is expected to drop to 7% growth. Africa is experiencing modest performance whereas South America and Russia are in recession. The European Union nations of Greece, Spain Portugal and Ireland remain in financial stress.
The global economy is predicted to grow at 3.6% over 2016-2017.
Back here in Australia we have seen the mining industry slowdown. Julie said that most of the construction and infrastructure has been completed at the mines and as such the workers are returning to their cities of origin to look for new jobs. This might ease the skills shortage.
The mines continue to perform strongly in extracting their precious metals, coal, etc. from the ground.
There is good news for Western Sydney industry with the State Government announcing it is offering assistance to companies impacted by the automotive and defence industry slowdowns so that it can minimise any negative impact.
CBC’s next After5 will be on March 29 at the Smithfield RSL with two exciting topics: Emerging Technology And Its Impact On Manufacturing & Associated Businesses, plus Networking And Connecting With People.
