In the second half of 2013, growth in Australia’s major trading partners looks to have continued at close to the average pace of the past decade. Economic growth in China remained a little above the government’s target of 7.5 per cent for 2013, supported by consumption and investment. In Japan, economic conditions showed further improvement towards the end of last year, consistent with expansionary fiscal and monetary policy and the associated depreciation of the yen. In the rest of east Asia, growth over recent quarters appears to have been close to its average of the past decade and was broad based across ... (full story)