Chief Commsec economist claims plenty to be positive about in Bunbury

There are still reasons to be positive about the Bunbury and wider South West economy despite some challenges, according to Commsec chief economist Craig James.

Mr James made the comments during a visit to the city last week alongside Commonwealth Bank chief executive officer Matt Comyn and WA Agribusiness general manager Natasha Greenwood.

He said while low population growth and a slow-down in building approvals indicated some difficulties, a sharp improvement in the jobless rate was encouraging.

“There are challenges, but there are opportunities,” he said.

“Particularly with the number of projects on the books as either under consideration or going ahead in the next couple of years.”

He said new projects in the region that created jobs and put money in the pockets of workers would always create excitement.

“If they have dollars in their pockets then there is potential to spend it and spread it around the place,” he said.

“The recent announcement about the outer ring road, but obviously lithium and aluminium projects as well as.

“You add all of those sorts of things up and there is certainly a lot of potential new jobs.”

He said regardless of the economic environment there were always reasons to be positive.

“It doesn’t matter the environment there is always opportunities,” he said.

“While people might be talking about how the economy has slowed in recent times that has led to the Reserve Bank cutting interest rates, the Government preparing to put tax cuts into place and the regulators are freeing up the ability for first-homebuyers to enter the market.

“Really the new economy has been in place since the May 19 election; while we don’t have a lot of information yet since that period most of it has been positive.”