Todays "Australian"AUSTRALIA / CHINA RELATIONSAustralia to ease...

Todays "Australian"

AUSTRALIA / CHINA RELATIONS
Australia to ease foreign investment rules

After Chinese investment saga, the country is keen to prove it's still interested in doing deals
Author: Mark Bendeich
Posted: Tuesday , 04 Aug 2009

SYDNEY -

SYDNEY, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan announced an easing of foreign-investment rules on Tuesday as the nation looked to reassure investors that its door was open despite recent tensions over Chinese investment.

Swan, speaking to a Thomson Reuters Newsmaker event in Sydney, said the rules would be changed to effectively fast-track investments by allowing more of them to go ahead without being vetted by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).

"Looking forward, the investment outlook will be less bullish, as a consequence of the slower global economy," he said.

"We want to ensure Australia's regulatory framework promotes our competitiveness and attractiveness as a destination for international capital. Our mission is to compete globally more effectively, to take a larger slice of a currently smaller pie."

The FIRB, which critics describe as secretive and sometimes unpredictable, will remain the gate-keeper for major foreign investments such as China's recently failed $19.5 billion tie-up with Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto (RIO.AX: Quote) (RIO.L: Quote).

But Swan said the threshold for triggering a notification to the board would be roughly doubled for private investments in existing businesses to A$219 million from A$100 million ($84 million) now, with the new amount to be indexed for inflation.