Australia better able to weather economic crisis ?

The local economy may continue to perform better than the rest of the world despite forecasts suggesting 2009 will be the worst year since World War II, the Reserve Bank said today.

Australia has benefited from having “more momentum than most comparable economies in the period leading into the crisis,” said RBA assistant governor Malcolm Edey in a speech delivered to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia in Sydney.

“There are reasons to expect that the Australian economy can continue to perform better than its international counterparts in the difficult period that lies ahead,” he said.

Mr Edey highlighted the steep drop in growth forecasts and the “synchronised nature of the downturn” affecting the global economy, together making 2009 shape “up as a very difficult year.”

More from this article at Sydney Morning Herald