Justin Smirk, St.George Bank's Chief Economist, joined St George's Economic Research team in 2009. He is the Bank's national spokesperson on the global economy, financial markets and local economic conditions. He has worked in financial markets for over ten years and prior to joining St.George, Justin worked as a Senior Economist at Westpac and an Economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia. As Chief Economist at St George Bank, JustinAca,-a,cs primary role is to analyse trends in the major economies and their impact on Australia. From this he formulates forecasts on the economy, interest rates and currencies and then briefs staff and clients on how current economic events may impact their business. Justin has not always been an economist. Back in the early 1990s, Justin was employed as a farm consultant in WA providing advice to owner operators and managing properties of various investors.