Sydney is bucking the gloomy economic trend

Matt Wade, Sydney Morning Herald

The Australian economy might have registered its biggest quarterly contraction since the dark days of the global financial crisis. But NSW, and especially Sydney, is bucking the downbeat trend. The broadest quarterly measure of a state’s economic performance – state final demand – rose in NSW during the three months to September and was up by 5 per cent over the year. That was the best result in six years and twice the rate of the next strongest state, Victoria (2.5 per cent).

Economic conditions in Western Australia are especially weak. State final demand there shrank by 3.8 per cent in the September quarter to be down a huge 9.5 per cent over the year. NSW was the only state to register growth in business investment. It also topped the states for new housing investment, which surged by 25.1 per cent through the year. NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian said business investment was boosting the NSW economy “at time when other states are facing economic challenges”.

The rest of this article can be found at smh.com.au.