Swift, Groft optimistic about southwest Louisiana’s future

(iStock) Calcasieu Parish

Southwest Louisiana is embarking on a new chapter as it continues to recover from business disruptions caused by the pandemic and the weather fiascoes that followed, reports The American Press.

“We don’t need to forget that we had just come off about $45 billion in projects that created over 15,000 permanent jobs and having that extra industrial base has helped us to recover,” says George Swift, president and CEO of the Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance. Swift said Southwest Louisiana has about twice that much in the pipeline over the next two to three years.

“We’re going to have another big increase in industrial expansion, plus we have the recovering economy with people still buying a lot of building supplies, furniture, appliances, things like that. Sales taxes have been pretty good,” Swift said. “Business is generally good in the area.”

Groft, director of the H.C. Drew Center for Business and Economic Analysis at McNeese State University, says Southwest Louisiana continues to be an “international center of importance.” Read the entire story.