New South Wales state keeps top spot in Aussie economic performance ranking

SYDNEY, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Australia's New South Wales, with its capital Sydney, led the latest major quarterly economic performance ranking of the country's states and territories released on Monday.

The southeastern state kept its pole position for the 14th straight quarter, "at or near the top of all indicators," including retail spending, business investment and unemployment, according to the CommSec "State of the States" report.

Victoria state, with its capital Melbourne, was in second place, with population growth listed as one of its strengths that also helped boost housing demand.

The Australian Capital Territory, which contains the country's capital Canberra, was in third spot, buoyed by its housing finance figures and a stronger job market. Western Australia placed at the bottom of the list, with its economic performance continuing to "to reflect the ending of the mining construction boom."

The other key indicators for the ranking were economic growth, construction work and dwelling commencements. Island state Tasmania was in fourth place, followed by South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

"New South Wales remains solidly on top and what we can say is Victoria is solidly in second position," said CommSec chief economist Craig James.

"Australia has started the year with a bang, with consumer confidence, retail sales and building approvals all improving and employment continuing to grow rapidly," economic research consultancy Capital Economics' economists Paul Dales and Kate Hickie wrote in an economic outlook analysis on Monday.

"This comes on top of last year's surge in business sentiment, which implies that better business investment this year will add to already strong public infrastructure spending. Enditem