With the wonders of Sydney, and a state three times the size of the UK, New South Wales boasts everything from an Asia-Pac financial services hub to region-leading steel and coal production – not to mention its delights as a tourism destination, from the Outback to the Opera House. Area: 800,640 sq km Population: 6,663,700 (33.9%) Capital: Sydney (pop. 4.1m) State Final Demand: A$247.34bn* SFD growth: 6% Gross State Product: A$243.17bn‡ Credit rating (S&P): AAA Employment growth: 1.75% Average weekly earnings: A$746.40 (11/02) Unemployment rate: 5.9% (03/03) Inflation: 2.9%* *=2002, ‡=2001/2. Source: ABS.

New South Wales

Sydney and beyond

Australia’s largest state economy, accounting for 36% of Australia’s gross domestic product, New South Wales is the primary driver behind the country’s extraordinary economic growth. A large economy in itself, New South Wales’ state product is larger than the entire economy of Thailand, Singapore, or Ireland.

The success of its economy is built on a diversified industry base. Services represent about 80% of output, while advanced manufacturing is supported by traditional industries like construction and agriculture.

• The state’s finance and business services markets produce annual industry income of A$47.6bn.
• The ICT industry generates A$33bn a year.
• Sydney is regarded as the contact centre capital of the Asia Pacific.
• Biotechnology companies generate A$300m in revenue annually, with 50% coming through export.
• Manufacturing generated A$27.2bn turnover in 2000/1.
• Aquaculture production is expected to grow from A$44m to A$250m by 2010.
• Mining and mineral processing earns more than A$6bn in export revenue annually.

New South Wales combines a highly skilled, multilingual and affordable workforce with a stable and strong economy, world-class infrastructure and an enviable Asia-Pacific position. It scores among the most competitive and sophisticated business locations in the Asia Pacific, as well as being one of the most desirable.

Under the spotlight
As Australia’s largest city, Sydney offers a highly cosmopolitan and sophisticated market of more than 4m people. Successive international surveys have acknowledged the quality of Sydney’s multilingual business people, infrastructure, and competitive costs for wages and office accommodation. Some 50% of the top 500 Australian and New Zealand companies have their headquarters in Sydney.

Sydney is Australia’s major financial centre, home to the:

• Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA);
• Australian Stock Exchange (ASX);
• Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE);
• Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA);
• Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC); and
• the headquarters of 41 of Australia’s 52 banks.

The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) is ranked the third largest in the Asia-Pacific region in market capitalisation of domestic equities, and the 12th largest in the world. The Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE) is one of the Asia Pacific’s largest financial futures and options ex-changes, with 31m contracts traded each year. In global terms it is the 11th largest market in the world, and offers around-the-clock electronic access to more than 70 derivative products in Australasia and North America.

Regional variety
While it is Sydney’s strength as an international city that spearheads the economy of New South Wales, the other regions of Australia’s leading state offer a valuable variety of geography and climate, from mineral-rich semi-arid deserts, to alpine peaks, to the sheep/wheat belts of the south. This diversity encourages a wide variety of industries to flourish, with traditional manufacturing, mining and agribusiness activities providing a foundation for diversification into high-growth sectors such as aquaculture, biotechnology, viticulture and communications.

The state is divided into 13 business regions in addition to Sydney:

• Greater Western Sydney, the Central Coast, the Hunter and the Illawarra;
• the Far West, Central West and Orana in the west;
• Northern Rivers, the Northwest and Australia’s Holiday Coast up north;
• Australian Capital Region, the Murray and the Riverina in the south and south-west of the state.

Greater Western Sydney alone, for example, counts as Australia’s third largest regional economy, behind Sydney CBD and Melbourne. It boasts Australia’s fastest-growing population and economy: 1.7m people and 72,000 businesses generating A$52bn a year. Or consider the Illawarra, south of Sydney on the east coast, with the city of Wollongong, now a centre of telecommunications excellence and home to an award-winning university, as well as Port Kembla, Australia’s ‘Port of the Year’ in 2001. The Illawarra’s economic base is diverse: it is one of South-East Asia’s leading producers of steel and steel products, while coal mining and agricultural industries complement manufacturing, engineering and tourism activities.

Service centre: Sydney is Australia’s financial hub and a leader in Asia Pac

New technologies
The New South Wales economy has a high ICT uptake rate, a major commitment to the online economy, significant research facilities and a growing venture capital industry.

Sydney is the chosen location for Australia’s new ICT Centre of Excellence, NICTA, and the city also hosts the high-profile international ICT conference and exhibition, CeBIT Australia. The 2003 Sydney CeBIT was 50% larger than the previous year’s event, and over three days attracted more than 20,000 international and domestic business visitors, including 140 international delegations.

Sydney and New South Wales also account for 70% of Australia’s pharmaceutical companies and 40% of its biotechnology companies.

The New South Wales economy is well placed to capitalise on any investment opportunities – a reason why 65% of Australia’s regional headquarters and regional operations centres choose the state as home.

For further information, contact:

New South Wales Department of State and Regional Development

Telephone: +61 2 9228 3111
Fax: +61 2 9228 3626
Email: businessweb@business.nsw.gov.au
Website: www.business.nsw.gov.au

Regional NSW website:
www.movingaheadnsw.com