Queensland Treasurer predicts the State will have the strongest growing economy in Australia

QUEENSLAND Treasurer Curtis Pitt thinks the State will become Australia’s fastest growing economy in the next few years.

QUEENSLAND thinks it will have the strongest growing economy in the entire nation in the next few years, despite the State’s struggles from the mining downturn.

As Treasurer Curtis Pitt handed down the Budget on Tuesday, he said Queensland was expected to record the nation’s strongest economic growth rate over the next few years, predicting it would grow by four per cent in 2016-17.

Mr Pitt said the predicted growth over the next year beat the three per cent NSW and Victoria’s economies were expected to grow, and was almost three per cent higher than Western Australia’s expected growth.

Mr Pitt said Queensland’s economy would be strengthened by overseas exports that were expected to boost as liquefied natural gas production ramped up.

Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt predicts the State’s economy will grow by four per cent in 2016-17.

It seems Queensland will have to put in a bit of hard work to become Australia’s number one economy, with past CommSec reports showing Queensland was lagging behind other states in the country.

In January a State of the States report said Queensland had one of Australia’s worst performing economies and revealed it was the sixth-ranked economy in the country.

NSW was the country’s best performing State, followed by Victoria, ACT, Northern Territory and Western Australia.

South Australia and Tasmania were behind Queensland.

The report revealed Queensland construction work dropped 30 per cent since last year.

In April, a new report by CommSec said Queensland had jumped forward one position and is now the fifth best performing State.

If Queensland does manage to become the strongest growing economy in the next few years, it could soon be overtaken again by NSW with State Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian announcing in May that her state will be a trillion dollar economy within 10 years.

NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian thinks NSW will become a trillon dollar economy in the next decade. Picture: Stefanie Menezes/AAP

Senior Economist at the Commonwealth Bank, Gareth Aird, said Queensland was mixed when it came to economic growth.

“Both NSW and Victoria weren’t performing anywhere near as well during the mining investment boom when there was plenty of money going into Western Australia and Queensland,” he said.

“They’ve been hit by the (mining) downturn and NSW tends to do quite well in low interest environments which is what we’ve got now.

“Queensland’s mixed. Brisbane’s still ticking along OK and Cairns, with tourism, is doing quite well but then you’ve got the regional areas. They were reliant on mining to boost growth and Gladstone is a classic example.”

Tuesday’s Budget predicted a surplus of $867 million in Queensland for 2016-17, making it the State’s largest in a decade.