Western Australia’s hard border and strong COVID-19 response has buttressed the local economy to post the strongest economic growth of any State in 2019-20.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released show Western Australia’s domestic economy was the only State to experience growth for the 2019-20 year, growing 1.1 per cent.
The figures also show WA confronted the COVID-19 pandemic from a position of strength, with growth in the State’s domestic economy in 2019-20 the strongest result in seven years.
This growth in the midst of a pandemic was underpinned by strong business investment, which grew by 9.3 per cent, in part driven by the mining sector which was able to continue operating throughout the pandemic. Economic activity was also supported by government support and stimulus measures.
The economic results released today demonstrate the importance of WA’s hard border closure for protecting the health of Western Australians and the health of the local economy.
States with open borders faired significantly worse than those with closed borders in the June quarter, with New South Wales and Victoria both contracting by around 8.5 per cent. This compares to a six per cent contraction in State Final Demand for WA in the June quarter.
The WA Government continues to implement its $5.5 billion Recovery Plan to drive WA’s economic and social recovery across different sectors throughout the whole State, to ensure we can recover, stronger than ever.
Source: WA Government