Australia is well-placed to continue to outperform

Today’s GDP data show that Australia’s economy grew by less than expected in Q4. Nonetheless, Australia outpaced the US, euro-zone and UK over 2011 as a whole. While we expect the global economy to falter later this year, there is plenty of scope for policy to be loosened in Australia to support growth at a time when policy options are limited elsewhere in the developed world. Accordingly, we expect Australia to outperform in 2012 as well.