Arthur had never paid attention to the Australasian Government's finances since the war began.
That was not to say Arthur did not value the nation's finances, but given Australasia's economic development during the war, it was difficult for the treasury to run dry.
In 1936, Australasia's Gross National Product reached an unprecedented 10.7335 billion Australian pounds, marking the first time in the thirty-seven years since Australasia's founding that its Gross National Product had exceeded ten billion Australian pounds.
At the current exchange rates, 1 pound sterling equaled 1.87 Australian pounds, 19.33 new dollars, 25.73 rubles, 27.34 Island Nation dollars, or 191 francs.
The 10.7335 billion Australian pounds was roughly equivalent to 5.7398 billion pounds sterling, already exceeding the 5.502 billion pounds sterling of the United Kingdom Mainland's Gross National Product.
Counting only the mainland, Australasia's Gross National Product had already ranked second in the world by mid-1937, surpassed only by Germany, which had seized vast amounts of territory.
The Gross National Product rankings of the world's countries were as follows:
First place: the British Commonwealth, with a total GNP of 8.4283 billion pounds sterling.
Second place: Germany, with a total GNP of 7.1778 billion pounds sterling.
Third place: Australasia, with a total GNP of 5.7398 billion pounds sterling.
Fourth place: France, with a total GNP of 4.8435 billion pounds sterling.
Fifth place: Russia, with a total GNP of 4.3737 billion pounds sterling.
Sixth place: the Great Lakes Republic, with a total GNP of 4.2331 billion pounds sterling.
Seventh place: Italy, with a total GNP of 1.8992 billion pounds sterling.
Eighth place: the Island Nation, with a total GNP of 1.7891 billion pounds sterling.
This ranking also showed that the economic development of the old-established great powers was relatively slow, completely unable to keep up with the pace of the new