Melbourne APEC Finance Centre

Located in the south-eastern corner of the continent, Victoria is Australia’s smallest mainland state in area, but is the most densely populated and urbanised.

Victoria began in the 1830s as a farming community but the discovery of gold in 1851 transformed it into a leading industrial and commercial centre.

Today, with an estimated population of over 5 million, Victoria has enjoyed more than a decade of consistent economic growth and is one of the strongest and most resilient economies in the world, with a AAA credit rating from both Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s.

In Melbourne and across the regions of the state, doing buisness means taking advantage of a transparent regulatory system and a stable political and economic environment.

Australia is well recognised for the small number of official procedures and time undertaken to carry out commercial activities.

Contributing to this environment includes:

• a regulatory framework conducive to foreign investment
• enforcement of intellectual property rights
• competitive corporate taxation rate (30 percent)

Economic Strengths

Victoria has a strong and diverse economy that includes traditional industries like manufacturing, new industries such as biotechnology, and a robust services sector that includes financial services.

Over the past ten years – 1995-06 to 2005-06 - Victoria's Gross State Product (GSP) grew at an average compound growth rate of 3.6 percent, in line with Australia’s national growth rate.

Growth has been particularly strong in finance and insurance (9 percent), manufacturing (14 percent), property and business services (14 percent), construction (7 percent), wholesale and retail trade, health services and education.

Source: Invest Victoria, ABS

Financial Markets

Victoria’s contribution to Australia’s financial services and insurance sector, as measured by total factor income for 2006-07, was 28 percent, or AUD 20.0 billion. It is the third largest contributor to the Victorian economy behind manufacturing and property and business services and directly employs approximately 92,000 people (4 percent of the Victorian workforce).

With an annual growth rate of 8.9 percent per annum since 1996-2006, the financial services sector has outpaced growth in other industries including manufacturing, construction and retail trade.  According to Axiss Australia, the contribution of this sector to Victoria’s wealth is growing faster than any other state.

Source: ABS, National Accounts

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