Profits slump as crisis hits

The global financial crisis has dealt Australia a sharp, double blow.

The average price of the commodities the nation sells  has plunged by 42.6 per cent over the past year.

As a result, business profits fell by 19.6 per cent, over that time.

In his weekend “economic note,’ the Treasurer Wayne Swan, this is the biggest fall seen in the nation’s company profits since the Australian Bureau of Statistics started keeping these figures, back in the 1990s.

This has huge consequences.

The Federal government’s tax collections will  fall, as a result.

A large slice of the nation’s business sector has gone into survival mode.

That is, business executives start looking for ways to survive, rather than opportunities for expansion.

That squeezes job opportunities for this year’s school leavers.

Even so, Australia has been touched lightly by the crisis.

Almost alone, among advanced western countries, it has avoided outright recession.

Australians will find out more this week, though, about how the nation is faring in these very difficult times.

The bureau is to release its November labour force figures on Thursday.

The nation’s balance of payments figures for September will be out tomorrow.

And international trade results, for October, are due for release on Wednesday.

All of these figures will be watched very closely.