Economic powerhouse: Melbourne on track to become Australia’s largest economy in a decade

Melbourne’s economy is booming, with the city set to overtake Sydney to become Australia’s largest economy in 10 to 15 years.

SGS Economics and Planning partner Terry Rawnsley said Melbourne is driving national economic growth, with the city accounting for almost 40 per cent of national growth in 2018-19.

“At the moment Melbourne is growing at almost twice the rate of Sydney, so this year Melbourne grew at 4 per cent and Sydney grew 2.6 per cent,” he told 3AW’s Kate and Quarters.

“There’s still a 15 per cent gap between the two, but under this rate of growth it’s pretty plausible in the next 10 to 15 years Melbourne would become the largest economy in the country.”

Melbourne’s bumper economic success this year isn’t down to one industry, with booming healthcare, professional services, and construction contributing to the surge.

“It’s a really broad-based economic performance,” Mr Rawnsley said.

“Every industry had a good year in 2018-19.”

The city’s success comes as regional areas struggle with drought.

“This year we saw the very clear impact of the drought across regional Australia,” Mr Rawnsley said.

“Agricultural production in regional Victoria was down 20 per cent from its peak, which flowed on to not just the farm production but also those local towns.”

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