Report reveals trade deficit in Australia's ICT industry

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has released the findings of its annual 2009 Australian ICT trade update, revealing a growing annual ICT trade deficit of $28 billion in Australia.

The ACS said the $28 billion deficit reflected Australia's increasing demand for ICT equipment.

"This is healthy to the extent that ICT is a growing area of focus and expansion for Australian business and governments," said ACS chairman and president Kumar Parakala.

"The continued growth in ICT revenues within the services sector, particularly ICT enabled services, is spotlighting an area of increasing global opportunity and a primary growth opportunity for Australia's economy. We need to pay more attention to this sector - and make it a national economic priority like the other top ten export areas," said Parakala.

The report also showed that in 2008 Australia's ICT exports increased to $6.6 billion, around 2.3 percent of Australia's total export earning, whilst import goods costed $34 billion.

The ACS also pointed out in the report that ICT goods and services were amongst the top ten principle exports for Australia - accounting for around 2.3 percent of Australia's total export earnings.

Summary of findings

The ACS report can be viewed on the Australian Computer Society's website [PDF].