PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Federal Finance Minster Mathias Cormann on Thursday said that the resource sector has been "incredibly important" over the last six months to the resilience of the Australian economy as it dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We have continued to perform strongly when it comes to our export volumes and the price in particular for iron-ore is quite high. In the half-yearly Budget update we assumed that the price for a tonne of iron-ore would go down to A$55/t. When I last looked it was running at above A$100/t.

“The continued strong performance of the resources sector, the fact that the resources sector was able to continue to operate was a very important factor in minimising the hit on the Australian economy,” Cormann said ahead of the release of the Economic and Fiscal Update.

“Things are hard. Things are difficult, but they are not as bad as they could have been. They are not as bad as they are in many other parts of the world. We just have to keep things in perspective, despite all of the challenges we are dealing with.”

Australia is expected to face its largest budget deficit since World War Two, with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg forecasting a deficit of more than A$85-billion for the 2019/20 financial year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is expected to increase to a deficit of A$184.5-billion in the following financial year.

The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia’s (CME) on Thursday said that the resources sector would continue to underpin Australia’s recovery coming out of Covid-19.

“The figures released by the federal government showed that mining investment will increase for the first time in seven years, growing by 4% in 2019/20 and an expected 9.5% in 2020/21,” said CME director of policy and advocacy Rob Carruthers.

“Our members’ efforts in continuing to operate during Covid-19 despite profound safety and logistical challenges have proved crucial to sustaining Australia’s economy during this pandemic,” he said.

“Thousands of men and women have worked tirelessly across Western Australia’s mining, oil and gas industry to keep the resources sector operating safely during Covid-19. Their efforts will be critical to the economic recovery of our nation and we appreciate the sacrifices they and their families have made and the resilience they have shown.

“With the ongoing support of the state and Commonwealth governments, our focus coming out of Covid-19 is to continue to support safe operations, sustain jobs and invest in the community.”