Overview The Australian Economy: Building on Strength as the World Recovers While many of our trading partners experienced slower growth in 2001, Australia's economy continued to perform strongly. Australia was one of the strongest developed economies in 2001, and growth is set to remain robust over the coming year.
As world economic growth slowed, Australia's economy continued to perform strongly. The US entered a mild recession from the early part of 2001. Australia's largest trading partner, Japan, entered recession for the third time in the last ten years. Growth in the European Union stalled with Germany, the major economy in the region, also entering recession.			weathering the global slowdown
The economies of Australia's major trading partners in East Asia also weakened, with output falling in several countries in the region.			trading partners' output weak
Despite this, Australia's economy grew strongly. Growth in 2001 was higher than in each of the largest seven economies (G7) and twice as fast as the OECD average. Australia's strong performance should continue, with growth averaging 3¾ per cent in 2002-03. The IMF and OECD both forecast the Australian economy to be one of the best performing advanced economies in 2002 and 2003.			outperforming most other developed nations
Australia's Strong Economic Growth Forecasts