Victoria will pour $90 million into expanding a program to lure big business into setting up shop in the state and create jobs.
The funds will be included in next week's state budget and are on top of $116 million already committed to the Investment Attraction and Assistance Program in last year's budget.
Premier Daniel Andrews and Industry and Employment Minister Wade Noonan announced the boost at the opening of heating and hot water system manufacturer Rinnai's new Braeside facility, established with the program's help.
The facility creates an additional 160 manufacturing jobs, including for some former automotive workers.
Mr Andrews said the taxpayer-funded program keeps employment up in Victoria.
"If you don't provide those incentives, if you don't work with business to make sure that Victoria's offering is the most attractive offering in the nation and the region, then of course investments go elsewhere," he said.
"It's a very, very competitive world and you need to make sure you are making the best offer and providing the best conditions for businesses to stay and most important for businesses to grow."
The announcement comes as CommSec's latest State of the States quarterly economic performance report bumped Victoria down to third with an ease in business investment and housing finance.
The report does also say Victoria is leading the nation on population growth and has had a lift in employment growth.
Treasurer Tim Pallas talked up Victoria's jobs growth.
"There is no doubt about the strength of the Victorian economy - we have the strongest jobs growth in the nation, with more jobs created in Victoria in the past year than the rest of the nation combined," he said in a statement.
"Last week we had ANZ and Deloitte Access Economics highlighting we were the stand out performer of the country - and with 216,000 jobs created since we were elected in November 2014, that's 216,000 opportunities that are changing lives for Victorians."
But the opposition believes Victoria is too reliant on population growth and its associated housing construction and retail spending to prop up the economy.
