Peter Gutwein,Premier
Tasmania's economy continues to recover from the impacts of COVID-19 according to positive ABS data released today.
The figures show State Final Demand for Tasmania grew 1.6 per cent in the March quarter in real seasonally adjusted terms - the third strongest growth rate in the nation. State Final Demand is also up 2.9 per cent compared to the March 2020 quarter which also represents the third strongest growth rate of all the states compared to a national rate of 1.9 per cent in a year with the full impact of the pandemic.
Pleasingly, household consumption increased by 1.9 per cent and was led by the continued recovery in expenditure in hotels, cafes and restaurants.
Growth was also underpinned by private investment growth of 2.5 per cent in the quarter, which reflects strong investment into construction equipment and more houses, supported by our Construction Blitz and HomeBuilder Programs.
This was also confirmed by Building approval data released by the ABS yesterday, which showed dwelling approvals had increased in seasonally adjusted terms by 37.2 per cent for the year to April 2021.
Government investment also grew at 2.8 per cent in the quarter, because at the height of the pandemic last year, we knew it was the Government's role to step in to support our economy and drive our rebuild, which is exactly what we did.
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.
