Fed: Costello delivers positive outlook for coming year

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Fed: Costello delivers positive outlook for coming year

By James Grubel, Chief Political Correspondent

CANBERRA, April 13 AAP - Treasurer Peter Costello today expressed confidence that Australiacould maintain strong growth, with expected business investment to help counter any slowdown.

Mr Costello said Australia's growth rate of 4.1 per cent in 2001 was the strongestin the industrialised world, but the outlook remained positive for the coming year.

"Our growth outlook is positive for 2001/02 and 2002/03," Mr Costello told the LiberalParty federal council.

"Our unemployment rates are trending down.

"I really think it's a good time for investment in the Australian economy at the moment."

Mr Costello said as business activity flattened, business investment would kick inand ensure continued growth and continued falls in unemployment.

"We hope that as the business cycle begins to flatten out through the course of thisyear that business investment will start to pick up the slack," he said.

"If we can keep the economy growing at a high three to four per cent, our employmentgeneration soaks up new entrants to the labour force and cuts unemployment."

He said the current 6.3 per cent unemployment was historically low.

Mr Costello said Australia was enjoying the benefits of reforms over the past six years.

But he committed the government to further reform on international tax, labour markets,trade practices laws, privatisation and foreign ownership laws.

"But I can tell you there will be one overarching objective of our economic policy," he said.

Earlier, Prime Minister John Howard said he expected growth to continue.

"There is every reason to believe that the economic growth that we have at the presenttime can go on," he told a Liberal breakfast.

AAP jg/las/de

KEYWORD: LIBERALS ECONOMY