Independent forecaster the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies (SACES) is predicting job and economic growth in South Australia this coming year to be only about half of the national rate, Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas said today.
SACES’ May 2006 Economic Briefing Report released yesterday has predicted job growth in 2006-07 of only 1.25% in South Australia compared to 2.5% nationally.
“The SACES job growth prediction is a major concern for South Australian job seekers, especially as it comes at the same time as the Rann Government is facing a major budget crisis because it made a series of unsustainable election promises prior to the election,” Mr Lucas said.
“SACES have also estimated that South Australia’s economic growth for 2006-07 (as measured by Gross State Product or GSP) will be only 2.0%, well below the predicted national economic growth rate of 3.75%.
“The SACES estimate again makes it clear that Treasurer Foley’s recent claim in Parliament on 10 May 2006 about economic growth was untrue.”
“Econom¬ic growth has never been higher in this state than under this Labor government.”
Kevin Foley, Hansard, 10 May 2006
In fact, economic growth figures for recent years show:
Government Year Increase in GSP (%)
Liberal 2000-01 4.7
Liberal 2001-02 3.4
Labor 2002-03 1.7
Labor 2003-04 2.8
Labor 2004-05 2.6
Labor 2005-06 2.5 (SACES est)
Labor 2006-07 2.0 (SACES est)