Western Australia’s growth trajectory to 2020 will be positive, a new joint industry-government study commissioned by the State’s Chamber of Minerals and Energy has found.
The study was designed to provide an integrated view of the industry and government development plans for the minerals and energy sector.
The Chamber’s chief executive Reg Howard-Smith said the study created an outlook for growth in the State focusing on the key growth enablers of water, people and energy.
“Results of the study suggest the current financial crisis will cause a decline in general demand over the next few years, followed by a recovery period with rapid growth set to resume in the early part of the next decade,” Howard-Smith said.
“The current economic climate provides the time required to plan and prepare for the challenges of the next wave of growth.
“It is essential that this time is used effectively to improve management of growth, better infrastructure planning, co-ordination and delivery, and workforce planning.
“The greatest threat to sustained development in Western Australia is the absence of vision for growth,” he said.
Howard-Smith said Western Australia would soon feel the flow-on effects of increased growth in the mining sector over March.
Deloitte Perth Office Managing Partner Keith Jones said all the major world indices had experienced positive growth in March.
“The Deloitte WA Index has grown strongly in March, driven by increases in both the engineering and construction and mining sectors,” Jones said.
Deloitte’s WA Index climbed from $82.4 billion to $91.6 billion during the month, an increase of $9.2 billion or 11%.
The increase follows a $9.5 billion increase for the Index in February, and takes the total growth during the past two months to 25%.
Wesfarmers increased in capitalisation by $3.5 billion (22.9%), following a series of announcements.
Wesfarmers Premier Coal recently acquired 30% of the tenements in the Scadden Energy project in Esperance.