Last month, Sir Frank Holmes and Dr Arthur Grimes, two highly-regarded economists, released a study they had undertaken for the Australia New Zealand Business Council entitled An ANZAC dollar?, and this has further intensified public and political interest in the matter. It is clear that there is strong interest in the subject on the part of the business community.
Japanese imports from Africa were $ billion in 1994, and increased to $ billion in 1996, before declining to $ billion in 1998 following the Asian crisis. Similarly, Japanese exports to Africa increased significantly from $ billion in 1994 to $ billion in 1996, before dropping to $ billion in 1998 and $ billion in 1999.