WA’S ECONOMY HITS FASTEST PACE ON RECORD.

A $210-million-a-day spending surge by miners and the construction industry has helped WA grow at its fastest rate on record.

Aided by shoppers and the government sector, WA’s economic activity excluding exports and imports, known as final demand, jumped 8.4 per cent in the three months to September.

Since the Australian bureau of Statistics started keeping State final demand figures in the mid-1980’s the WA economy has never grown faster. Annual growth jumped to 16.4%. It was driven by a 19.4% jump in private sector capital spending, which hit an all-time high of $19.2 billion.

It was not just the miners and associated construction sector that helped propel WA’s economy.

Government spending increased 13.1 per cent through the quarter and household spending improved 0.9% to be 5.7 per cent higher in the past 12 months.

Nationally, the economy grew a better-than expected one per cent through the September quarter.

The Australian economy has now grown 2.5 per cent over the past year.

Westpac economists Matthew Hassan and Andrew Hanlan said the figures showed a very big wedge opening up between those States with resources and those without.

Source: West Australian Newspapers. 8th December 2011. Shane Wright