Peter Gutwein,Premier
Tasmania has outperformed the national economy and recorded the second highest economic growth of any jurisdiction in Australia, despite the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to ABS statistics released today, Tasmania's economy grew 3.8 per cent in 2020-21, in real terms, outperforming the national economy which grew by 1.5 per cent.
Demonstrating the resilience in our economy, Tasmania's Gross State Product grew to $34.8 billion in 2020-21 and economic growth is nearly double that estimated in the August 2021-22 Budget.
This is great news and confirms our plan to secure Tasmania's future is working, and we will continue to invest and support our economy to grow and prosper into the future.
The largest contributor to growth was in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing industry. Gross Value Added by the industry rose 21.1 per cent, representing half of total Tasmanian GSP growth.
Furthermore in 2020-21, private investment grew 6.9 per cent in real terms, demonstrating the confidence of Tasmanian businesses and Tasmanians to plan and invest for the future, while at the same time, households consumption growth was strong.
This result follows the announcement by credit rating agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) that Tasmania has maintained its AA+ credit rating with a stable outlook.
S&P noted Tasmania's economy is outperforming the national average and is recovering from COVID-19 because of the Government's strong financial management and its swift response to the pandemic.
Pleasingly, S&P said they "continue to view Tasmania's financial management as extremely strong", while going on to say that "the state has solid policies and strategies designed to meet funding commitments on a timely basis, and these are managed by specialists."
This is a strong endorsement of the Tasmanian Government's fiscal strategy and its ongoing responsible budget management.
We will continue to support Tasmania's ongoing recovery from COVID-19, and deliver our plan to grow our economy and create more jobs as we secure Tasmania's future.
