New South Wales is on the cusp of becoming a half-trillion dollar economy. State Treasurer, Andrew Constance, says NSW has become a half a trillion dollar economy with investments in jobs, housing and infrastructure driving growth across the State.
NSW’s gross state product is set to top the $500 billion mark for the first time in 2014-15. “NSW well and truly has its mojo back and will become a half-a-trillion dollar economy this financial year,” he said while visiting retailers in Sydney’s south west with Campbelltown MP Bryan Doyle.
“Not only is NSW the number one economy, we’re also propping up the nation with a strong jobs market, high retail trade and housing starts at ten-year highs,” Mr Constance said.
An economic update released by Mr Constance on Tuesday said NSW was “cementing its place” as Australia’s top-performing state economy. It said lower petrol prices, the lower exchange and last week’s interest rates cut by the Reserve Bank were all favourable for NSW.
“The latest interest rate cut is expected to further bolster NSW’s economic fortitude as the economy reshapes itself in the wake of the mining investment boom,” the update said.
“Let’s not forget that under Labor, NSW was the worst performing economy in the Commonwealth. CommSec ranked Labor 8th for three consecutive quarters in 2009 and 2010.
“Under the NSW Liberals & Nationals, we are now number one. If you travel around the State, you can see that construction is booming with cranes in the sky and jobs on the ground. We’ve balanced the Budget, the triple-A credit rating is secure and billions of dollars has been set aside to further boost infrastructure across NSW.”
“NSW well and truly has its mojo back with GSP growth of 4.75 per cent ticking us over to a half a trillion dollar economy.”
Mr Doyle said Campbelltown has been a major beneficiary of initiatives like the Jobs Action Plan, with 904 jobs created in the district since July 2011.
“This is a fantastic result for Campbelltown and it’s great to see jobs being supported close to where more and more people are raising their families,” Mr Doyle said. “While the job of boosting employment is never done, we are moving in a positive direction to ensure incentives are there for businesses to employ.”
Mr Constance said the greatest risk to the State’s prosperity is NSW Labor.
“Labor is the biggest risk to NSW – a risk to jobs, a risk to services and a risk to getting the infrastructure NSW needs and deserves,” Mr Constance said.
Last week ANZ forecast NSW to continue to “outperform” other states over the next few years, led by Sydney.
“Robust housing and construction activity in Sydney are having strong flow-on effects to other sectors,” the ANZ report said. “Sydney’s disproportionately large financial sector has also supported the pick-up in growth. Household spending has strengthened, buoyed by stronger income growth and sharply higher dwelling prices.”
The growing strength of the US economy also “appears to be assisting” NSW, the report said.
