By Siobhan Ryan The Australian January 19, 2009 12:00am
THE NSW economy is already in recession, shrinking at speeds seen during the US financial meltdown.
Access Economics' latest quarterly Business Outlook report has predicted a long and painful year for the country's biggest state economy, and warned that NSW's mini-budget had only made things worse, The Australian reported.
"NSW is drowning, not waving, with its economy contracting at US-style rates," it says.
The report predicts gross state product will shift into reverse this financial year, dramatically underperforming the nation by contracting 1.6 per cent.
By comparison, the national economy is projected to grow by 0.8 per cent the same year.
Access Economics expects 10,000 jobs to be lost in NSW in 2008-09, with the unemployment rate taking two more years to peak, at 7.6 per cent.