ACT ECONOMY 'FASTEST GROWING'

Chief Minister Jon Stanhope has welcomed the results of the latest CommSec State of the States economic report which confirms the ACT is still the fastest growing economy in the nation.

The ACT is also the second best performing economy in Australia, just behind Western Australia.

"This is a remarkable result for such a small economy as ours," Mr Stanhope said. "The ACT's 8.1 per cent growth rate demonstrates the fiscally-responsible approach we adopted, heading in and out of the global financial crisis, has been effective.

"The CommSec report highlights that the ACT continues to benefit from low levels of unemployment (currently 3.3%) and a strong housing market."

Each of the states and territories were assessed on eight key indicators: economic growth; retail spending; equipment investment; unemployment; construction work done; population growth; housing finance and dwelling commencements.

Mr Stanhope said the ACT continued to perform strongly in the area of new housing finance.

"The number of housing finance commitments in the ACT is almost 16 per cent higher than the decade-average, which is good news for local financial institutions, real estate agents and builders," Mr Stanhope said.

"In new home starts, this translates to a significant lead over other jurisdictions. In the March 2010 quarter the ACT was 56 per cent above the 10-year average and up an impressive 67 per cent on the previous year.

"CommSec attributes this to a strong job market, increased land production and rising population growth."

While the report acknowledges above-average increases in Canberra's house prices, the ACT also recorded the highest real wage gains in the nation.

In other new construction work, the ACT remains strong and in third place behind only Western Australia and South Australia.

Most Australian jurisdictions recorded high growth rates in population with the mining states, Western Australia (2.7 per cent) and Queensland (2.4 per cent) continuing to lead the nation. The ACT's population grew by 1.83 per cent in the past year.

A wind-down in the Federal Government's tax break for small and medium-sized businesses has been blamed for a dip in the ACT's investment spending.

The ACT and NSW were also behind other jurisdictions in the area of retail trade however they are currently showing the fastest retail growth in the nation which is a good sign at the start of a new financial year.

Media Contact:

Chantelle Lustri 6205 2775 0434 560 770 chantelle.lustri@act.gov.au
Jess Wurf 6205 0504 0411 772 700 jess.wurf@act.gov.au