Projected growth of ICT spending in Asia is 10.5 percent per annum until at least 2011, according to figures released by Austrade.
“There’s been a significant growth in Australian exports of ICT goods and services to Asia over the past three years,” says Peter Harrison, Austrade national manager for ICT. “In 2006/07, Australia’s ICT exports to ASEAN countries increased to $415 million, nearly 15 percent from the previous year; and exports of Australian [ICT] goods and services to China were worth $183 million.”
Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) chief economist Roger Donnelly reports that while the Asian market won’t grow at the current rate, the region will still post higher growth than the rest of the world. He says many observers believe that Asia can’t remain insulated from slowdown in the rest of the world, yet “foresee expanding domestic demand and intra-Asian trade compensating for most of any export shock coming from the US/G7”.
He added, “The biggest risk to this growth comes from rising food and fuel prices, not the global credit squeeze or slowing exports.”
