Tasmania has been named the best performing state economy in Australia once again for the seventh consecutive quarter.

According to CommSec's State of the State report – ranking Australia’s state and territory economies on eight key indicators – Tasmania was consistently the strongest, particularly in regard to retail, construction and relative unemployment.

In second place was the Australian Capital Territory followed by Western Australia and New South Wales in third, while South Australia and Victoria were in equal fifth place, says a 9News report.

In contrast, Queensland was named the second-worst performing economy in Australia, only surpassed by the Northern Territory.

According to CommSec's Chief Economist Craig James, despite the impact of the coronavirus crisis, the localised economies of Australia's state and territories remain in good shape.

"Overall, Australia's state and territory economies are in strong shape, well supported by significant fiscal and monetary stimulus," James said. "Unemployment rates are historically-low across much of the nation – remarkable when you consider the COVID-19 challenges and when the broader Australian economy was in recession just over a year ago."

He went on to say that Tasmania was the clear leader of all the states, whilst the other places were more evenly matched.

"Tasmania remains in top position in the economic performance rankings. Tasmania leads the nation on four of the eight indicators assessed. As we noted last quarter, Tasmania is unlikely to face any challenge to its dominance on the key economic indicators until mid-2022 at the earliest," James stated.

"Identifying the economy to challenge Tasmania for top position is not easy. Much will depend on vaccination rates, and reopening of state and foreign borders.

"But stimulus applied by state and territory governments will be important."

The economist went on to say that the reopening of domestic and international borders would greatly benefit Queensland’s tourism industry: "Queensland would be a key beneficiary of the opening of borders with inter-state and overseas tourism driving spending and employment," James said. "Queensland and Northern Territory will be supported by population growth and higher commodity prices."

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