State Budget bleak for south-west

SCENES like this one in Coleraine’s Whyte St recently might become more commonplace following a further reduction in state roads funding in Tuesday’s budget. A truck tried to park its trailer and broke through the surface into a washout under the road. Photo: SUPPLIED.

By Mark Rabich

May 27, 2023 | 11:00 AM

TUESDAY evening’s State Budget delivered by treasurer, Tim Pallas, covered a range of regional concerns, but the Opposition have claimed there was little to celebrate outside the metropolitan region from the assembly of economic items.

In selling the budget, the government pointed to unemployment of below four per cent as a positive - “which hasn’t happened for nearly 50 years” - and especially highlighted the regional rate of 3.7 per cent, but conceded the Real Gross State Product (GSP) per person was “expected to slow to 1.5 per cent in 2023-24 as high inflation and interest rates weigh on the economy”.