WA corporate investment

The latest detailed state capital expenditure figures confirm the slump in WA business investment indicated in the latest state accounts. WA’s corporate sector investment fell by $527 million (37.6 per cent) to $874 million between June and September, the first time quarterly investment has been below $1 billion since March 1992, and the lowest quarterly investment since June 1986.

Most of the apparent recovery in WA mining investment in June evaporated in the September quarter, although at $429 million investment did not quite slip back to its March trough of $390 million.

But investment in other sectors fell sharply, with manufacturing investment in particular dropping by 58 per cent between June and September, from $296 million to $123 million.