As part of today's budget, the Minister published the Government's economic forecast for the coming years which underpins the budget. Unlike last year, when uncertainty abounded – with good reason – we can now point to the general consensus that the much heralded international recovery is under way. The economies of our significant trading partners look better than they have in recent years. However, there are still significant imbalances in the world economy, which are still a source of concern and, as such, pose a risk to the sustainability of the international recovery. Senators are aware of how sensitive is our economy, for example, to sudden falls in the US dollar against the euro and the difficulties this poses for our exporters.