Retail king Gerry Harvey has dismissed concerns that the Australian economy could be headed for “Armageddon” or a repeat of the Great Depression, and has instead claimed the world economy is just around the corner from a boom.
“I think we’re on the verge of the greatest boom that mankind has ever seen,” Harvey has declared in an interview with ABC Television’s Four Corners program.
“There is much money being printed… in a lot of the countries in the world, the wealthy countries [and] interest rates are coming down in most of those places between 0% and 2% – there’s this huge amount of money.
“It’s just a matter of we’ve just got to go through a little bit of a period, and then away we go.”
While economists argue that the fallout of from the global financial crisis is likely to send Australia’s economy into recession and limit economic growth for at least 18 months, Harvey claims Australia is in a far stronger position than stalling economies such as Britain or the United States.
He says the “average bloke” is still employed, his partner is employed and is benefitted from tax cuts, cash handouts, lower interest rates and lower petrol prices.
“He’s sitting out there and saying: ‘What’s going on here? I’ve never been better off’.”
Harvey also argues that demand from China and other Asian nations for Australian commodities and raw materials should pick up soon as those countries try to get growth back on track.
“If you think that all those people in Asia are suddenly going to reach this standard of living and go backwards – wrong.
“The world is going to get going again, and it’s going to get going like you’ve never seen. Now is it going to happen tomorrow? I don’t know. Is it going to happen this year or next year? Yes.”
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