In an interview on ABC yesterday, Craig James from Commsec said that economic growth overall was good but it’s far from spectacular.
He added, “Growth is still below par below longer-term averages and conditions are varying markedly across the states and the export sector is still not pulling its weight”.
ABC Economics Correspondent Stephen Long said, “They’re called “the national accounts” but they actually show an economy split along geographic lines. With the states where most people live adding nothing to economic growth”.
“You see New South Wales and Victoria contributing nothing to growth and surging growth coming through from WA and Queensland.”
He added, “A surface look at the numbers might suggest that exports have improved, but look a little closer and things aren’t so rosy”. “Exports of goods fell in the first three months of the year, and the terms of trade, the price for exports against the cost of imports, fell for the first time in four years”.
“Only a surge in tourism stopped the poor export performance from dragging growth down, and that was probably due to a one-off event in Melbourne”.
This confirmation of the value of major events to the Australian economy comes at a time when most States are increasing their tourism spend, but New South Wales slashes more than $4m from theirs.
Report by The Mole
