In one respect (which I will come to in a moment), this has been the case, but overall, developments in the world economy have worked to our advantage. Certainly, a recovery in world economic activity is good for all countries, including Australia.
The fact that the area of strongest growth is again in Asia means we benefit more than most other countries because we do so much of our trade with this region. The fact that commodity prices are rising is also of great benefit to us in that it contributes to a rise in our terms of trade (Graph 7).