Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Economic Structure The Australian economy is structured primarily as a commodities exporter economy, however in recent years it has been moving in the direction of a knowledge based economy. The Australian economy also continues to develop in the service and sophisticated manufacturing industries. Over the past 15 years, the Australian economy has evolved from mostly an agricultural based economy, with agricultural products and other commodities dominating the exports, to a well balanced economy that now relies on services and manufacturing to round out national exports. In 2003 manufacturing and merchandise trade led Australian exports accounting for A$107.8 billion, with services accounting for A$32.5 billion or 18.1% of all exports, and agricultural and mining exports accounted for only a combined A$30.6 billion. These numbers obviously show that Australia is coming into its own as a major player in the global market, exporting sophisticated manufacturing products and services. Australia is moving steadily towards becoming a totally Knowledge-Based Economy (KBE). This means that the economy is driven by the production, distribution and use of knowledge and information. Knowledge-based industries now contribute almost h