In recent weeks record floods have swamped large areas of New South Wales and Queensland states, prompting fears of a repeat of last year’s historic disaster, which put a significant dent in Australia’s GDP for the financial year to June 2011.
“Despite the terrible impact on affected communities, we’re not expecting the flooding to have a significant impact on the national economy at this stage,” Swan wrote in a regular economic note.
“While the heavy rainfall has resulted in the temporary closure of several rail lines and caused disruption to some coal mines, it hasn’t caused any significant disruptions to major coal mining operations in the Bowen Basin or the Hunter Valley.
“And while some crops are likely to be affected by the damage to farm land, Treasury advises the impact on the supply and prices of fresh produce is not expected to be great.”
Swan said Australia’s economy continued to do well, forecasting output in the key resources sector would increase by around 77 per cent by 2020.
The floods forced thousands of people from their homes and killed one person.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Julia Gillard toured the flood-hit town of St George in Queensland, where she said A$1.9 billion (RM4.8 billion) of funding had been released to the state government in recent days to help it combat the latest disaster. — Reuters
