Speaking at a housing industry conference on Wednesday, a notably buoyant Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Deputy Governor Ric Battellino said that the Australian economy, emerging from the global economic slump, has embarked upon a new growth phase which would last for years.

Battellino added that, in the coming few years, Australia would most probably witness a further expansion of the resources sector, including the development of some very big gas projects.

Noting that the country’s economy had held up much better than expected this year, and was the only developed economy to boast year-ended growth, the top Australian banker said that the bounce back of the economic activity in Asia was a positive indication for Australia.

With a mention of the robustness of Australia's key Asian trading partners, which are expected to recover the economic growth trend next year, Battellino said: “While the world economy as a whole is forecast to remain relatively sluggish next year, economic growth for the group of countries that comprise our major trading partners is expected to recover to a relatively normal pace.”

The optimistic economic outlook for the country was one of the leading reasons behind the RBA move to increase interest rates in October and November – a move that made the RBA the first G20 central bank to raise interest rates ever since the global financial crisis began!