Australia’s Top Economy
Western Australia has once again been named as Australia’s strongest-performing economy.
It’s the fourth consecutive quarter that the state has taken out the top honours in the CommSec State of the States report. South Australia secured second spot.
The quarterly State of the States report identifies which Australian state or territory economy is performing the best by measuring eight key economic indicators.
Western Australia was rated first for the largest number of key indicators. It was the best state in the retail trade, housing finance, and business investment categories.
South Australia is not far behind, coming out on top for two categories – construction work and dwelling starts.
Queensland is in third position overall, followed by Victoria and Tasmania. New South Wales and the ACT both tied for sixth spot.
The Northern Territory remains in 8th spot, which the report says is because it has a small open economy, which makes it difficult to effectively compare it against other capital cities.
CommSec Chief Economist, Ryan Felsman, says the overall economic performance of Australia’s states and territories is being supported by a combination of slowing inflation, falling interest rates, rising real wages, robust government spending and a solid labour market.
He says Queensland’s economy was disrupted in the March quarter by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred and that the resources-focused Western Australia economy has the strongest annual economic momentum, which is supported by robust private sector activity and population growth.
