The ‘must haves’ for future growth

Providing services is an opportunity for shared growth. In Australia, our services industry accounts for more than 70 per cent of the nation’s gross domestic product and employs eight out of 10 people. But, according to the PwC ANZ Services Index, Australia’s export of services to all major Asian economies (excluding Japan) accounts for less than 30 per cent of our international trade.

This index complements the PwC Melbourne Institute Asialink Index created to measure the progress of Australia-Asian engagement. It demonstrates that expanding our relationship within and across Asia needs to go beyond supplying commodities, agriculture and manufactured goods. Organisations need to look past traditional ways of investing, toward opportunities to share knowledge and invest in areas such as health, education and leisure.

While Australia’s current relationship with Asia is measured in terms of trade flows and financial output, our ongoing relationship will feature the flow of knowledge and shared cultural experiences, and our future relationship will be gauged in more holistic terms.