*EMBARGOED UNTIL MONDAY 27 JULY 12.01AM*

The latest CommSec State of the States July 2020 Report confirms Tasmania entered the pandemic from a position of strength as the strongest economy in the nation, according to the most recent statistics.

“For the first time the since October 2009, Tasmania holds the mantle of the best performing economy in its own right and is ranked first outright on the CommSec rankings. Three months ago Tasmania shared top spot with Victoria,” the Report said.

The figures demonstrated Tasmania has the strongest job market, in the most challenging times, demonstrating our responsible glide-path approach to recovery is working.

The Report highlighting that “despite the COVID-19 shock the Tasmanian unemployment rate is only 7.4 per cent above the decade average.”

Tasmania also ranked first on retail trade with spending 14.8 per cent above decade-average levels in the March quarter, with our strong relative population growth and home building key supports for retail spending.

While we lifted from last to first with equipment investment, up 14.2 per cent on the decade average and were also ranked strongest on the relative population measure with our 0.97 per cent annual population growth 65.9 per cent above the decade-average rate.

We have not sugar-coated the impact COVID-19 has had on our state, however, the strong position of our economy and budget prior to the pandemic is a pillar of strength to support our recovery.

The Government is doing everything it can to manage and mitigate the impacts on businesses, jobs, families and the Tasmanian community, and we are focused on the recovery process and getting the economy back on track and back in business.

Since coming to office, we rebuilt our economy to be number one in the country and we can do it again. We will recover and we will rebuild a stronger Tasmania.