Navigating your business through the global financial crisis is the theme of both a major conference and a seminar series scheduled within the next month. The Australian Institute of Export and its partners will host a full-day conference with the theme ‘Managing your business in a turbulent global environment’. Keynote speaker is Dr John Edwards, […]
A draft plan by the Australian Tax Office may see employers forced to include overtime, maternity and paternity leave into time earnings when calculating superannuation. The move could cost businesses $1 billion, according to estimates by the Australian Industry Group. Small business opposition spokesperson Steve Ciobo says an employee on an average wage taking 12 […]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has encouraged the Australian Government to let the Federal Budget go into deficit for the longer-term benefit of preserving the Australian economy. The fund has predicted that Australia can expect a 0.2 percent contraction to the economy in the coming year. Government spending has already softened the impact of the […]
If the threat of terrorism wasn’t enough of a blow, the tourism industry looks like it will shed thousands of jobs due to the global financial crisis and the subsequent drop in travel. Almost 500,000 people are directly employed in the tourism industry. More than half of tourism operators will look to cut staff this […]
Moves by federal advisory organisation, the National Preventative Health Taskforce, to ban advertising junk food and alcohol under certain conditions would dampen economic activity, according to the Advertising Federation of Australia. “This is not the time to destimulate the economy, certainly not when $20 billion is being spent stimulating it,” notes Mark Champion, the group’s […]
Second in our series on ‘The True Cost of Exporting’ is the cost of finance, from working capital to performance bonds and money for growth. Watching interest rates jump and dive in the last 12 months has been an uncomfortable ride for many borrowers, but particularly for exporters who must simultaneously contend with fluctuating exchange […]
Whether inflation rises or falls, the Reserve Bank is likely to cut the official rate by another 75 to 100 basis points (0.751 percent), predict economists. Figures to be released later today are expected to show a drop in inflation, though economists are divided as to the direction of the consumer price index (CPI) for […]
Being isolated from the heavily populated eastern states has made WA export ready from the start. With the mining boom taking hold of the state, Western Australia has become hot property for overseas markets. The area of Western Australia is roughly a third of Australia, so it’s fitting that the state also accounts for roughly […]
Commercial borrowing dropped by more than 10 percent late last year as the credit crunch began to eat into lending funds. Totally lending for the year 2008 dropped 30.7 percent according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. However, the proportion of borrowing from pre-approved lines of credit, the business version of a credit card, rose […]
The quarterly Business Outlook, issued by economic forecaster Access Economics, shows recession imminent and describes the Federal Budget as too reliant on commodities exports, especially as China is our main customer and they have slowed buying. “A lot of things are buggered because the global economy is in real trouble,” said Access Economics director Chris […]
