WA’s booming economy received another kick along when resource-hungry China predicted its average annual growth rate was set to continue racing at about 7.5 per cent, leading the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry to boast the boom times “couldn’t get much better". Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao told China’s annual parliamentary session opening that gross domestic product was set to grow at an annual average rate of 7.5 per cent between 2006 and 2010, with about 8 per cent growth expected this year. China’s insatiable appetite for WA’s resources poured more than $6.5 billion into the state’s economy last financial year. CCI chief economist John Nicolaou said strong demand for major resource commodities, in particular iron ore, oil and gas, meant there was little to suggest the upbeat economy would slow in the near future.
