Australia, India launch first round of substantive FTA talks
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Australia， India launch first round of substantive FTA talks
中国论文
On Jan. 11， 2015， Australian Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb held the first round of substantive negotiations toward a free-trade agreement（FTA） with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This round of negotiations was held in Modi’s hometown Ahmedabad， a business city of India’s Gujarat， lasting 30 minutes. After the negotiations， Robb said that Modi had pledged to enter into FTA with Australia this year.
During the negotiations， Robb and Modi also discussed about service trades， import of goods and Australia-India investment.
According to Robb， his visit to India was accompanied by a total of 400 Australian business and political leaders， showing Australian federal government’s strong emphasis on the negotiations for the FTA.
“It means a big step forward in the relationship between the two countries，”said Australia’s New South Wales （NSW） Premier Mike Baird， one of those leaders accompanying the visit.
India is Australia’s fifth-largest export market. In 2013， Australia’s commodity exports to India totaled 9.5 billion Austrian dollars， while its education exports to India reached 1.3 billion Austrian dollars.
Besides Robb， Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott also eyes to finalize the Australia-India free-trade agreement by the end of this year.
Australia’s fiscal deficit expected to expand by A$10 bln
By the end of June 2015， Australia’s fiscal deficit may expand to 40.4 billion Australian dollars， or 205.4 billion yuan， well above the forecast of 29.8 billion Australian dollars released in May 2014， according to Joe Hockey， Australian Treasury Minister.
In the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook report released recently， Hockey pointed out that a decrease of more than 30% in iron ore prices and a lowerthan-expected growth in salary caused the government revenues to plummet by 31.6 billion Australian dollars.
The report said that the country’s annual revenue for the fiscal years will fall by 31.2 billion Australian dollars， compared with the previous forecast of a decrease of 17.1 billion Australian dollars.
The report also pointed out that the country’s fiscal deficit for the fiscal years will narrow to 11.5 Australian dollars.
The government said that although the deficit is expected to expand， a record-low interest rate， coupled with a slump in energy prices and the weakening Australian dollar， will continue to support the economic development. Besides， continuous investments injected into infrastructural project will become an economic growth point.
Australia’s home loan approvals fall by 0.7% in November
Australia’s home loan approvals unexpectedly fell in November 2014， showing that the country’s house market was slowing down with a fall in investment.
According to official data， the number of home loan approvals in the country slumped by 0.7% in November， quite different from a rise of 1.7% forecasted by economists.
“The overall trend of Australia’house market is falling back from a high level. With a trend towards a right direc- tion， the house market in the country is cooling down，” said Tom Kennedy， economist at the investment firm JP Morgan.
In fact， it is good news for the federate government which is worrying that investors would create house market bubbles in Sydney and Melbourne.
Although the home loan approval rating is still high， the total value of those home loans fell by 2.2% in November， the first time since May.
“Despite these volatile monthly data， we still view the drop in November may be helpful to reduce the concerns about the house market was overheated， at least for now，” said David de Garis， senior economist at the National Australia Bank.
He said the downward trend may be temporary， as data showed that house prices rose again in December.
According to seasonally-adjusted data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics （ABS）， a combined total of 52，079 home loans were approved in November， down from 52，439 in October.
Australia revises down iron ore price forecast for 2015
According to a recent report， Australia， the world’s largest iron ore exporter， revised its forecast of the average iron ore price for 2015 down by 33% to 63 dollars per metric ton， as its iron ore output growth has exceeded the demand growth in China， which will further worsen the oversupply situation，
In contrast， the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics， an economic and statistical research unit under the Australian Department of Industry， previously forecasted the average iron ore price would stand at 94 dollars per metric ton.
In a quarterly report， the Australian Department of Industry said that the average iron ore price was around 88 dollars per metric ton last year.
In 2014， the iron ore price plummeted by 49%， as mining giants， including Rio Tinto and BHP Billito ramped up iron ore production in Australia， leading to an oversupply.
Consultancy firm Roubini Global Economics said as the gap between the growing iron ore output and the stagnant demand in China is increasingly expanding， the average iron ore may fall below 60 dollars per metric ton.