WA Business News’ third annual State Economic Review comes during a continuing period of prosperity for Western Australia, courtesy to a large extent of China’s accelerating economic growth.
WA Business News’ third annual State Economic Review comes during a continuing period of prosperity for Western Australia, courtesy to a large extent of China’s accelerating economic growth.
WA Business News’ third annual State Economic Review comes during a continuing period of prosperity for Western Australia, courtesy to a large extent of China’s accelerating economic growth.
Demand for WA commodities, along with rising prices, have fuelled growth in government revenues, in the form of taxation and mining revenues, driving the surplus to another record level.
The 2006-07 financial year was also a record breaker for the state’s resources sector, with export values reaching record levels.
But it’s not just the resources sector that is booming; the tourism industry has staged a recovery, reaching a record $5 billion in tourist expenditure.
To paint an overall picture of the state’s growth over 2006-07, WA Business News has engaged several economists to outline the key highlights of the year, as well as identify a number of constraints and pressures likely to affect the state in the years to come.
The review analyses a range of sectors, such as state finances, resources, tourism and agriculture, as well as a number of social indicators, including population and cost of living, to give an overview of WA society as it undergoes a period of economic prosperity.
We also address the flip side of the state’s rapid growth, which has given rise to key capacity constraints including skills and labour shortages, wage cost pressures and increasing materials and construction costs.
Housing affordability also remains a problem for a large number of Western Australians, with an increasing number of first homebuyers experiencing mortgage stress.
Despite the constraints, the outlook for WA’s economy remains strong, with a positive global outlook expected to underpin the state’s growth.