In recent years, the Australian economy has been extremely robust, and the Tasmanian economy has performed better than the national average.

This has been characterised by an improvement in unemployment, increased building activity, and population increases. An improvement in efficiency means that more Tasmanians are involved in export-earning (or wealth producing) industries.

There are nonetheless some threats to Tasmania's prosperity:

• Many feel that the state is over-governed, and this frustrates the plans of many companies who otherwise might invest in the state.

• The reliance on agriculture means that Tasmania's economic fortunes can easily be affected by weather, particularly drought.

• In the past, the dominance of particular companies (usually mining or mineral processing) in terms of earnings has made Tasmania vulnerable to worldwide fluctuations in the price of commodities.

• Tasmania's dependance on primary industries has placed it at the mercy of the global marketplace, with downturns in Asia having an effect on Tasmanian exporters.

However, sound economic management and an increasingly diversified economy will hopefully keep these problems at bay.

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Last reviewed 2006-08-05 17:39:54