Australian economy set to become 11th largest: report

SYDNEY, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Population growth, fueled notably by skilled migrants, is set to help grow Australia into the world's 11th-largest economy in the coming decade, according to a major economic report.

The position is two notches up from Australia's current 13th spot, the London-based economic analysis group Centre for Economics and Business Research highlighted in its latest ranking of the worlds economies released on Tuesday.

Migrants with skills that are in high demand heading to Australia are expected to help boost the economic growth that will increasingly depend less on natural resources, but toward technology and other facets of new global development, the report said.

China is also expected to overtake the U.S. to top the list by 2032, with three out of the four largest economies -- including India and Japan -- being Asian by that time, the center said. Indonesia and South Korea are also ranked in the top 10 largest economies by then.

"The interesting trend emerging is that by 2032 five of the ten largest economies will be in Asia while European economies are falling down the ranking and the USA loses its top spot," the report's co-author and economist Oliver Kolodseike was quoted as saying.

"Technology and urbanization will be important factors transforming the world economy over the next 15 years."

More than 120,000 people were granted Australian skilled migration visas in 2015-2016, making up most of the permanent migrant visas issued, government figures showed.

The outlook on the Australian economy going into the new year is positive, including a business sector in "great shape" and companies "spending, investing and employing," and economic growth "expected to lift from around 2 percent to near 3 percent over 2018," Australian CommSec analysts said in a report earlier this month. Enditem