A report by CommSec released on Monday confirmed that Western Australia (WA) is the country's strongest state in terms of economic performance.

The basis of CommSec in reaching that conclusion is that WA topped six of the eight criteria used by CommSec in making its quarterly assessment. The eight benchmarks are on economic growth, retail spending, equipment investment, unemployment, completed construction work, population growth, housing financing and dwelling starts.

On second spot is the Australian Capital Territory due to its strong housing finance and dwelling starts boosted by its population increase and high employment rate.

A surprise third place is the Northern Territory which jumped from its seventh position on account of the state's solid economic growth, strong job market and retail spending driven by new resources project in the area. Craig James, chief economist of CommSec, pointed to the $34-billion Inpex liquefied natural gas project as the driver of economic growth in the Northern Territory, which is relatively a small economy.

On fourth and fifth place are Queensland and Victoria, followed by New South Wales and South Australia. The cellar dweller is Tasmania which is behind the other Australian states in five of the eight indicators, particularly in the areas of population growth, unemployment, retail spending and economic expansion.

Due to the strong economic performance of WA, Mr James said the country's national economic could now be measures two ways - the first includes all the eight states and the second less WA.

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