Swan said the rise of the investment of resources of Australia 'Mixed blessing'

July 31, 2011, 1: 32 AM EDT by Robert Fenner

July 31 (Bloomberg) - Australia, driven by new projects of resources, investment boom is a "blessing" for the economy and a rise in the local dollar hurts the manufacturing industries of tourism, said Treasurer Wayne Swan.

"Clearly the high dollar is making life quite difficult for many areas exposed by the trade," Swan said in his weekly economic note published today. "The lingering effects of the global financial crisis are adding to this, a cautious consumer with more credit".Australia is in what it calls the Australia Reserve Bank to a structural change - a change in the productive capacity of the industries of mining and construction, while the stronger currency hurts exporters, education, tourism and manufacturing. Government of first Minister Julia Gillard estimates that mining investment will reach 76 million dollars (84 million dollars) this fiscal year.Asian demand for Australian commodities is driving new investment, such as the adoption last week by ConocoPhillips and origin Energy Ltd., the first stage of a liquefied $ 20 million project of natural gas in the State of Queensland. The so-called Aussie currency trade more than the fifth of the world, increased 22 percent against the dollar of the United States in the past 12 months as the mining boom pushed unemployment below 5 percent.Interest RatesThe RBA kept its cash rate target overnight unchanged at 4.75 percent, when it meets on August 2, with 21 of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, July 29. The nation reference rate is the highest among developed economies in the world.The Australian dollar traded as high as $1.1081 last week, the highest since the end of the exchange controls in 1983, after a Government report showed prices to the consumer for the second quarter rose more than economists had predicted.This month they plummeted by most as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed in 2008 consumer sentiment, showed a survey of Westpac Banking Corp and the Melbourne Institute. "Business confidence fell to a minimum of six months, according to a study by the National Australia Bank Ltd. of more than 400 companies from June 24 to June 30."Despite our underlying strength, we know that the investment boom is a blessing, "Swan said." "I am fully aware that many companies are doing hard."

-Editors: Ed Johnson, Paul Tighe

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Fenner in Melbourne in rfenner@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe in ptighe@bloomberg.net

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