CANBERRA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Australia's treasurer has said that there is cause for optimism about the country's economy despite a projected budget deficit for the current financial year.

In a major economic statement delivered to parliament on Wednesday, Jim Chalmers said that he was confident that the worst of the inflation crisis had passed but that the government's mission to repair the budget and ease pressure on households was not yet accomplished.

He told parliament that Australia's rate of inflation has halved, the economy is expanding, and real wages are growing.

"Very cautious confidence and emerging optimism is welcome and warranted," Chalmers said.

Speaking ahead of December's release of the annual Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), Chalmers said that the government is not anticipating major upgrades in revenue forecasts.

The federal budget for the financial year 2024-25, which Chalmers handed down in May, forecast a budget deficit of 28.3 billion Australian dollars (18.4 billion U.S. dollars) following two consecutive surpluses.

The current government's four previous budget updates delivered revenue upgrades averaging 80 billion AUD (52.2 billion USD), but Chalmers told the House of Representatives on Wednesday that the MYEFO will not feature a major revenue windfall due to falling global commodity prices and a soft labor market.

"As a result of these factors, I can inform the House that Treasury expects any revenue upgrades in the mid-year outlook will be much smaller," he said.

"Treasury's latest estimate is that any upgrade will be a sliver of what we saw in those first four budget updates."

He said that Inflation forecasts for 2024-25 included in December's mid-year update are expected to be broadly in line with the May budget, which forecasts inflation of 2.75 percent for the financial year. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)