NT worst economy in the nation

The Northern Territory continues to be Australia’s worst-performing economy, according to a grim new quarterly State of the States report by CommSec.

The Northern Territory was ranked last on all indicators in CommSecc’s new report except economic growth.

THE Northern Territory continues to be Australia’s worst-performing economy, according to a grim new CommSec report.

The quarterly State of the States report released today shows the NT remains at the bottom of the league ladder.

The Territory took seventh spot in one of the economic indicators assessed (relative economic growth), but lagged behind all other states and territories in the other seven categories.

Economic activity in the NT was 18.3 per cent above its decade average in the September quarter, but still recorded one of the countries weakest annual growth rates at 4.7 per cent.

An overview of the NT in the latest CommSec report.

The NT recorded the weakest result with retail spending down 2.1 per cent on the decade average, below Western Australia with 3.3 per cent growth.

Encouragingly, equipment investment was up the most on a year ago in Northern Territory (up 37.2 per cent) from Western Australia (up 13.3 per cent) and Victoria (up 4.4 per cent).

CommSec’s chief economist Craig James said there has been no change in the rankings this quarter.

“The main area of encouragement was the improvement in the job market in a number of economies, particularly Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania,” he said.

MORE TO COME.