Michael Ferguson,Minister for Finance
Business confidence in Tasmania continues to be high, with new ABS data released today confirming that private investment continues to grow in Tasmania.
Investment into Equipment, Plant and Machinery grew 47 per cent over the year to the March 2021 quarter, in real seasonally adjusted terms - the highest growth rate in the nation.
At the same time, this investment grew 16.4 per cent in the quarter, which was the second highest quarterly growth nationally, showing business confidence levels are being maintained.
Overall, private New Capital Expenditure grew 9 per cent in the first quarter of 2021, in real seasonally adjusted terms, higher than national growth of 6.3 per cent. Private New Capital Expenditure is now 7.5 per cent higher than the March quarter last year, before the pandemic.
These figures demonstrate that businesses are confident and investing to meet demand and grow.
At the same time, data last week confirmed that businesses are hiring, with Tasmania seeing the highest rebound in job advertisements nationally compared to before the pandemic.
The Tasmanian Government has a clear plan to secure Tasmania's future, and it is working. Our businesses are confident, investing and hiring, there are more Tasmanians in work than before the pandemic, and 23,600 jobs have been created since we came to Government in 2014.
