Australia has emerged as the world's cheapest place to shop an iPod following steep decline in the Australian dollar that is expected to give an impetus to country's trade competitiveness, according to a new study.
The CommSec iPod index showed that Australia was the cheapest place among 62 countries to buy an Apple iPod 8GB nano music player. In July, it was ranked 14th.
"While the local price of an iPod has actually fallen since July in line with other countries, the Australian dollar has fallen further than most currencies against the greenback - down over 45 per cent - thus boosting Australian trade competitiveness," Craig James, CommSec chief equities economist was quoted as saying in an AAP report here.
The CommSec iPod index is a light-hearted look at currency movements and purchasing powers, in a similar way to 'The Economist' magazine's index based on McDonald's Big Mac.
A new 8GB iPod model is now priced at 199 Australian dollars but on the CommSec iPod nano index, Australia's price comes in at 131.95 US dollars. James said Australia is the cheapest place in the world to buy an Apple iPod by a considerable margin.
"South Korea (USD139.72),Canada (USD138.73) and Indonesia (USD138.47) are vying for second spot, but prices in each country are around five per cent dearer than in Australia," he said adding, the sharp fall of the Australian dollar since July will boost trade competitiveness and assist in insulating Australia from the downturn in the global economy.
"Over 2000 and 2001, the Australian dollar fell by 28 per cent to a record low of 47.75 US cents, helping to insulate the economy from recession in the US," he said, adding
manufacturing and the tourism sector were the main beneficiaries of the currency decline.