Dux of nation – again
No challenger in sight as Tassie leads nation
TASMANIA has proven its credentials by being named the best performing economy in the nation.
But the result is no flash in the pan.
CommSec’s State of the State report has listed Tassie as the nation’s top economy for the seventh quarter in a row.
And CommSec says it isn’t even obvious which state could challenge for the crown.
Tasmania leads on four of the eight indicators: construction, retail spending, relative unemployment and dwelling starts and ranked second on another three indicators: equipment investment, relative economic growth and relative population growth.
The Tasmanian economy’s greatest strength was population growth relative to longterm trends and its weakness was housing finance.
FOR the seventh quarter in a row, Tasmania has taken the mantle of the best-performing economy in the nation.
CommSec’s State of the State report says it isn’t even obvious which state could challenge for the crown.
Tasmania leads on four of the eight indicators: construction, retail spending, relative unemployment and dwelling starts, and ranked second on another three indicators: equipment investment, relative economic growth and relative population growth. However, there is little to separate the other state and territory economies. The ACT is second, Western Australia and NSW are equal third, South Australia and Victoria are equal fifth, Queensland is seventh and the Northern Territory is eighth.
The Tasmanian economy’s greatest strength was population growth relative to longterm trends, and its weakness was housing finance.
“Overall, Australia’s state and territory economies are in strong shape, well supported by significant fiscal and monetary stimulus,” CommSec chief economist Craig James said.
“Unemployment rates are historically low across much of the nation – remarkable when you consider the Covid-19 challenges and when the broader Australian economy was in recession just over a year ago.
“Tasmania remains in top position in the economic performance rankings. Tasmania leads the nation on four of the eight indicators assessed. As we noted last quarter, Tasmania is unlikely to face any challenge to its dominance on the key economic indicators until mid-2022 at the earliest.”
Tasmania’s dwelling starts were up 88.5 per cent on the state’s decade average, unemployment was 26.2 per cent below trend, economic growth exceeded the average by 22.7 per cent and retail spending was up 18.1 per cent.
“Identifying the economy to challenge Tasmania for top position is not easy,” Mr James said.
Premier and Treasurer Peter Gutwein hailed the result as “outstanding”.
Pleasingly, the report stated that “Tasmania has … consolidated its top position well ahead of other economies” and “there are few signs of Tasmania giving up the position as the top-performing economy in the next six months”. “These fantastic results don’t happen by accident, they are the result of our strong plan to secure Tasmania’s future and reflect the confidence Tasmanians have to invest and spend in our state,” the Premier said.
Mr Gutwein said the CommSec report joined the recent NAB Monthly Business Survey and the Deloitte Access Economics Outlook Report for September 2021 in forecasting our economy to grow the equalfastest in the nation this year.