The NSW economy outpaced other states last financial year after registering its fastest growth rate since the Sydney Olympics.
The state economy grew by 3.5 per cent in the year to June 30, the best rate of expansion since 1999-2000, according to the most authoritative measure of state economic performance released by the Bureau of Statistics on Friday.
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My achievements this year: Mike Baird
An economy that is 'leading the nation', infrastructure expansion and an improved budget position are among NSW Premier Mike Baird's key achievements, he says, one year after his election win.
The robust expansion was driven by Sydney's super-strong construction and financial services industries. Construction in NSW surged 10.8 per cent last financial year while the financial services sector was up by 4.8 per cent.
The results underscored the economic strength of Australia's two biggest states compared with the rest of Australia. Victoria grew by 3.3 per cent in 2015-16, its best performance in eight years. Victoria's growth was also driven by construction (up 9.9 per cent) and financial services (up 5.5 per cent). Growth in both NSW and Victoria was well above the national figure.
However, offsetting the expansion in the two biggest states was manufacturing (-3.1 per cent in NSW and -2.7 per cent in Victoria) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (-6.9 per cent in NSW and -8.4 per cent in Victoria).Â
The Western Australian economy has slowed dramatically in the wake of the mining boom. It grew 1.9 per cent last financial year, well below the 5 per cent it has averaged over the past decade. Growth was weakest in Tasmania at 1.3 per cent.
NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian said the official state growth figures were historic.
"Not only is the NSW economy experiencing the strongest growth since the Sydney Olympics, this is the first time in 25 years we have been number one among the states for overall economic growth," she said.
Ms Berejiklian said NSW's strong performance was underpinned by a lift in exports, with services exports, such as education and tourism, growing by 12.5 per cent in year.
Gross State Product in NSW reached $531.32Â billion in 2015-16, up by almost $18 billion on the previous year.
NSW also led other states in gross state product per person growth which was up by 2 per cent in 2015-16. That measure was up by 1.4 per cent in Victoria during the year.
While economic growth has been robust in NSW and Victoria recently a report on the state economies released by ANZ earlier this week said there were signs both the big states had lost some economic momentum in recent months.