Dollar reflects strong economy: Swan

The strong performance of the Australian dollar reflects the underlying strength of
the country's economy, federal Treasurer Wayne Swan says.
Mr Swan is in Washington to take part in International Monetary Fund and World Bank
discussions about global economic progress following the financial crisis.
He is also meeting other G20 and Commonwealth finance ministers, and key US
officials, including senior executives from the US Federal Reserve.
International leaders have a strong track record in dealing with the global
financial crisis and he was optimistic they could deal with the challenges ahead, Mr
Swan told reporters.
Australia's economy was one of the strongest among advanced economies, Mr Swan said.
"We didn't go into recession; we've had very strong employment growth.
"Unemployment in Australia is about half that in the United States.
"We have a very strong pipeline of investment happening in Australia and of course
we are back on track to bring our budget back to surplus by 2013.
"I think the value of the currency tends to reflect the underlying strength of the
Australian economy and the view that international investors have of the Australian
economy despite all of the international uncertainty that we experienced."
On Thursday night the Australian dollar hit 99.18 US cents, the highest it has been
since it was floated on foreign exchange markets in 1983, and the highest since the
pre-float level of 99.70 cents reached in July 1982.
It was trading at 98.19 US cents late on Friday.
When it was put to Mr Swan that the meetings have shaped up as a knock-down battle
between the US and China over currencies, Mr Swan said he "wouldn't put it that
way".
"I think that there is an important debate about reform of exchange rate regimes,
just as there is an important debate about the reforms that are required to
rebalance the international economy between surplus countries and deficit
countries," he said.
The G20 demonstrated at the height of the global financial crisis that co-ordinated
and co-operative international action works, Mr Swan said.
"I'd like to see that co-operation and that spirit reflected as we go forward to put
in place the framework for sustained and balanced growth that we will be dealing
with for G20 meetings in the next couple of months."



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