Article courtesy of The West Australian
WA’s economy has boomed to be the best in the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.
An analysis by S&P Global Ratings, reported in The Australian, show WA will run a small cash deficit of 0.6 per cent of State revenues this financial year.
Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia is the next best with a deficit of 8.7 per cent.
S&P measures deficits differently to the States but the company’s sovereign analyst Martin Foo said WA was out-performing developed markets around the world
“WA looks to be outperforming all of them as far as we can see,” he said. “The data on this report is actually a little bit old.
“If you were to include the pre-election fiscal statement from a few weeks ago, as good as WA looks, its true position might be even better.”
WA’s strong financial position was also aided by a deal with the Federal Government in 2019 that enabled its GST to stay above 70¢ in the dollar.
Mr Foo said the GST deal along with the rise in iron ore prices was a “double sugar hit”.
“WA can now benefit from the higher royalty revenues without worrying that GST receipts will fall off a cliff,” he said.
