NT economy last in nation in CommSec State of the States report

The latest quarterly report from CommSec has offered some sobering reading for the Territory, but there are some comforting trends in the data.

THE Northern Territory has ranked last overall in the nation in terms of economic performance compared to the last decade, a major report has revealed.

CommSec’s quarterly State of the States report was released on Monday, with the NT trailing on most indicators.

But there have been signs of green shoots, with the NT ranking first nationwide in three metrics of annual growth: retail spending, construction work and housing finance.

The NT has struggled to rank well after the Inpex boom. Picture: Tourism NT

“Up the most was the Northern Territory with construction 20.4 per cent up from a year earlier,” the report said.

But the NT’s construction sector was still overall down a whopping 69 per cent on its own average over a decade.

The NT was also last in terms of decade-long trends of new dwelling starts, equipment investment and retail sales.

MORE TOP NEWS

The report is often criticised by the NT government for being misleading, because it rates each state against its own performance over the past decade.

The government has previously claimed the Inpex boom has skewed the data, meaning the Territory appears to perform poorly.

The opposition often seizes upon the quarterly State of the States report to argue mismanagement of the economy.

Follow @thomasmorgan22