Australia's trade minister defends strength of currency

Speaking ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore, Crean said the strong Australian dollar allowed the country to cope with the slowdown “better than any other developed country.”

The strong dollar “is a reflection fundamentally of the strength of the Australian economy, an economy which of all the developed economies of the world, is performing the best.”

Australia's dollar broke past the 90 U.S. cents barrier to reach its highest level in 14 months in October. It was trading at 93 cents to the U.S. dollar at 0500 GMT on Tuesday.

Australia was also the first major economy to raise interest rates since the worldwide crisis hit, from 3.0 percent to 3.25 percent in October, and hiking it another 25 basis points to 3.50 last week.

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