Exports critical as ICT trade deficit soars to $22 billion

Gordon Peters
Thursday, 18 November 2010 15:11

IT Industry - Market

As Australia's ICT trade deficit passes $22 billion, the global financial crisis and the high Australian dollar have brought about a decline in Australia's ICT exports. The trade figures have prompted a call from the Australian Computer Society (ACS) for greater recognition of the ICT sector by governments to help bring about a stronger export performance in coming years.

The ACS call for greater recognition from government comes with today's release of the 2010 Australian ICT Trade Update, which shows that Australia's annual ICT trade deficit in excess of $22 billion at the close of 2009.

The report - commissioned by the ACS an authored by Professor John Houghton, currently Professorial Fellow at Victoria University's Centre for Strategic Economic Studies (CSES) -  reveals that that the ICT trade deficit has been increasing steadily for a number of years rising by approximately $750 million year-on-year, and by more than $6 billion since 2000 (in current prices).

The value of exports of ICT goods and services exports from Australia was $4.5 billion - a fall of 11 percent -during 2009, well below the peak of $7.2 billion reached during the boom in 2000 (in current prices), the report reveals, while imports have continued to grow and cost almost $27 billion, creating the ICT trade deficit of $22.228 billion.  ICT exports accounted for just 1.8% of Australia's total export earnings.

According to ACS President, Anthony Wong, Australia's ICT exports are not immune to the continuing effects of the global financial crisis, but greater recognition of the ICT sector by governments could see a stronger performance in coming years.

Wong cautions that Australia is 'still in unsettling times' and that Australia's ICT sector has experienced some of the severe impacts of the global financial crisis, in the way of export reductions.