At the Reserve Bank, we do not undertake independent forecasts of the economies of our trading partners. Rather, we look to the local experts, and rely on Consensus Forecasts - which are essentially a survey of local forecasters’ views for each country. Table 1 summarises the Consensus view of industrial production for the region’s economies.
But since the implementation of the FTA in January 1989, trade flows measured in constant dollars have more than tripled for both countries, and trade as a share of GDP has risen sharply.