The State Government's latest round of unimproved land valuations has revealed the Gold Coast was hardest hit by global financial crisis, with the value of units on the glitter strip dropping 17 per cent since October 2007.
‘‘That was a surprise, especially given the banks were all saying it would rise and they should have known,’’ Nomura Australia chief economists Stephen Roberts said. ‘‘It’s tends to detract from an immediate interest rate rise, so anyone talking about a back-to-back interest rate rise, it may cool that a bit.
“We’re not asking for a bailout, we’re not asking for financial help from anyone,” Papandreou told reporters. “What we are doing is first of all revamping our own economy. We are taking measures to put our economy on the right path.”
Shipments abroad gained 46 percent in February from a year before after a 21 percent advance in January, the customs bureau reported on its Web site today. Year-ago figures were depressed by a contraction in world trade resulting from the crisis. The trade surplus hit a one-year low of $7.6 billion, affected in part by the Lunar New Year holiday.
THE Government will not introduce more measures relating to the property market for now, but will monitor the market closely, said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan yesterday.