Drought in Australia
Many farmers in Australia are facing financial ruin as they try to cope with the worst drought in almost a decade. Areas of Queensland and New South Wales have not seen a drop of rain in two years, and some are experiencing the lowest rainfall since records began in 1900. The drought is the latest example of wild weather variations which have seen summer snow, hailstones the size of bowling balls, and a tropical cyclone in the past year. Forecasters, who are blaming the El Nino effect, say the drought could last for another year.
Australian economy weathers US downturn
A UN survey examining the health of economies in the Asia Pacific region has found that Australia is weathering the threat of a downturn in the US. The annual report suggests Australia will be insulated against the fallout from a US downturn, partly due to the strength of neighbouring economies like China and India. But UN consultant Raghbendra Jha says inflation must be managed well, to ensure Australia's economic durability.
"The reserve bank of Australia and the Australian Government has to walk a pretty thin line between not putting too much downward pressure on demand and stimulating supply," he said. "I think both of these must be handled pretty carefully."
Overseas Visitors to Australia
The United Kingdom continues to provide the most visitors to Australia according to Tourism Australia. For the year to January 2008, there were 683,000 visitors from the UK, 562,000 from Japan, 459,000 from USA, 364,000 from China and 248,000 from Korea.
Most countries were at similar levels to 2007, except for China which had a 30% increase - largely due to increased business connections.
There were over 1 million official visitors from New Zealand, but it is thought that this is a false figure, given the amount of New Zealanders living in Australia who return home on a regular basis.
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