Rudd says Australia must diversify economy as China resource boom ends
2013-07-11 11:34:22
Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Thursday that the country must now focus on diversifying its economy with the China-led resources boom coming to an end.
"The truth is in 2013 - the China resources boom is over," he said in a speech in Canberra. Australia needs a transition from an investment-intensive phase in minerals and energy sector to a new phase of investment in other sectors of the economy, including the traded sector, Rudd said.
"Because the China resources boom is coming off, Australia's core economic strategy for the future must be one which diversifies our economy, by creating more jobs in manufacturing, food production, infrastructure, construction, and our many other services industries, rather than having all our eggs in just one basket - the resources and energy sector," he noted.
According to Rudd, relying on the lower dollar alone to boost competitiveness is insufficient for the great economic task that lies ahead.
If the country fails to embrace a new national competitiveness agenda, there is a danger that Australia will begin to price itself out of international business in the years ahead, he warned.
The core of this new national competitiveness agenda must be a common agreement to lift Australia's annual productivity growth rate to at least 2 percent in the future, he added.